Jailed Kozulin undergoes health examination :: Charter'97 :: News

Opposition politician Aleksandr Kozulin, who is currently held in the detention center in Zhodino, Minsk region, underwent a health examination on April 4 at the request of his lawyer, Igor Rynkevich.

The examination was expected to reveal whether the former presidential candidate was beaten up after he was arrested during police’s crackdown on an opposition demonstration in Minsk on March 25.

Mr. Rynkevich told BelaPAN on Thursday that the outcome of the examination was not yet clear.

On March 30, Dr. Kozulin, rector of Belarusian State University between 1996 and 2003, was formally charged with two counts of hooliganism under Part 2 of the Criminal Code`s Article 339, and with the organization of group actions disturbing the public peace and active participation in them under Article 342.

He could face up to six years in prison on the later charge.

The politician reportedly refuses to answer any questions of investigators, dismissing the charges as politically motivated.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Dr. Kozulin’s team to invalidate March’s presidential election, saying that the appeal was outside the court’s jurisdiction. The team is set to appeal to Supreme Court Chairman Valentin Sukalo to overturn the ruling, according to Mr. Rynkevich.