Biased Court over Aleksei Shydlovsky :: Charter'97 :: News

Consideration of Aleksei Shydlovsky’s court appeal took place on January 23 in the Minsk city court. Shydlovsky demanded cancellation of the Central district court’s decision, which declined his lawsuit on the protection of his honor and dignity, filed against “Sovetskaya Belorussiya” newspaper and its editor Pavel Yakubovich. ZUBR coordinator claims that in May the newspaper published an article, which defamed him by saying that he had served his prison term not for political graffiti, but for refusal to pay alimonies. However, in October 2002, the court turned down his complaint, although the plaintiff had never been married, while the defendant never denied his guilt.

Shydlovsky appealed against the decision of the first instance court. Moreover, procuracy protested against the judicial verdict too at first, but then, changed its mind for no good reason and revoked the protest. Yesterday the city court followed suit and declined it as well.
Aleksei Shydlovsky suffered a lot from judicial arbitrariness. Twice: in 1997 and 2001 the young oppositionist was found guilty of spray-painting political graffiti, serving 1,5 years of jail and two years of social labor. However, prison never pressed him down. Now they are set to discredit the young patriot in other people’s eyes.