Milinkevich Not to Stand Trial So Far :: Charter'97 :: News

Today in the court of Katrsychnitski district of Minsk a trial on charges against the united democratic forces leader Alyaksandr Milinkevich has taken place. A. Milinkevich had been charged with alleged crossing the Belarusian border illegally.

Judge Hermanovich studied the materials of the case and decided to return for revision the protocol drawn up by border officers of airport Minsk-2. According to the judge, the protocol has shortcoming and does not comply with the Article 184-3 of the Administrative Code of Belarus.

The judge satisfied the request of Alyaksandr Milinkevich who asked the court to give back the passport to his son. The passport was illegally seized in November 29 last year.

As we have informed, on November 26-29 the leader of the democratic forces has taken part in the NATO summit in Riga on invitation of Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. On his departure from Minsk, border guards stamped his son’s passport by mistake. It was noticed only when the politician returned back. Border guards haven’t recognized their mistake. They accused Alyaksandr Milinkevich of intentional crossing the border with invalid documents. The politician faces a fine of up to 4.5 thousand dollars or two months of corrective labour.