City Prosecutor’s Office Against Iryna Khalip :: Charter'97 :: News

The general prosecutor’s office has reversed the decision on suspension of the criminal case against Iryna Khalip, deputy editor-in-chief of the “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” for publishing an article “Afghan Greyhounds” in the supplement “Dlia sluzhebnogo polzovaniya” (“Restricted”) of the newspaper “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” (BDG) a year and a half ago. In the article Khalip told about the details of the criminal case of the former concern “Belgospischeprom” president Viktar Kazeka and his son Andrei Kazeka, former head of sales department of “Kryshtal” company, who were accused of bribery and embezzlement of state property. Iryna Khalip is now a witness in the case of libeling of Viktar Sheiman, Prosecutor General. Iryna Khalip’s case is investigated by Viktar Feschenka, the gravest crimes’ investigator from Minsk prosecutor’s office.

The suspension of the criminal proceedings against Iryna Khalip which was brought up against her on charges relating article 188, Part 2 of the Criminal Code (libel in a public statement or in a publication or works demonstrated publicly, or in mass media, or together with charges of grave or very grave crime) was reversed last year. According to Iryna Khalip’s version, the prosecutor’s office was waiting for the sentence on her article’s personages to be pronounced. And after more than half a year when the sentences on Viktar and Andrei Kazeka had been passed, the prosecutor’s general office resumed the legal proceedings on Khalip’s case and remitted a case for further inquiry to Minsk prosecutor’s office. According to Iryna Khalip, the city prosecutor’s office is set to have trial of the case. In case she would become a defendant out of a witness, which happens very often, the deputy editor-in-chief of the BDG is threatened with corrective works for a term up to two years, arrest for up to six months, restriction of freedom for three years or detention for up to two years.

Today she was interrogated. As said by Iryna, investigators asked her very biased questions, and her case consists of the two thick volumes.

Iryna Khalip commented the instituted criminal legal proceedings against her to the Charter’97 press center:

“There are several versions of the events. It could be a personal revenge of the prosecutor’s office officials. I managed to find confirmation of the fact that Viktar Sheiman provided a `roof` (protection) for the criminal vodka-liquor business. May be it’s a revenge for my articles in Russian “Novaya Gazeta”. As Belarusian Prosecutor’s office does not have instruments of pressure on Russian press, they decided to bully me, using the article in the BDG published a year and a half ago. It could also be connected with my constant visits to Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Last autumn Security Council officers already asked Pyotr Martsaw, where the money are taken for my trips to Strasbourg. In October last year the Prosecutor Generals’ officers asked me the same question. It is also known that officials of the Belarusian FM tried to influence the press department of the PACE so that I was not invited to the Assembly sessions any more”.