Release of Kanstantin Lukashou :: Charter'97 :: News

The Leninsky district court of Minsk gave a 2 years suspended sentence to opposition activist Kanstantin Lukashou. Kanstantin Lukashou was released right in the courtroom.

It is to be mentioned, that K. Lukashou was detained on December 19, 2006

He was accused of striking the militiamen by his car on March 29, 2006 when he was taking his brother Vyachaslau Siuchik from the surgery department of the third clinical hospital in Minsk. That day unknown persons with the IDs of militiamen tried to detain the public activist after his discharge from the hospital for abusive behavior. But Vyachaslau Siuchik’s brother helped him to escape.

19 February the prosecutor demanded a 3 years suspended sentence for the defendant.

Lawyer Valyantsina Shikhantsova considers that from the very beginning the ”lawsuit has been very strange” because accusation and detaining of K. Lukashou was committed with many procedural violations. In particular, K. Lukashou hadn’t concealed himself from the law and order bodies, as the prosecutor stated. The violations were committed when taking him to custody. The accusation was submitted after 15 days but not within 10 days, as it is demanded by the law. According to the lawyer there was not any ” criminal event” with regard to the militiaman .All witnesses ‘ testimonies, according to the lawyer, contradicted the defendant’s opinion. The militiamen when trying to detain Siuchik violated the legislature norms; they had not introduced themselves and had not shown their IDs. The lawyer declared that Kanstantin Lukashou hadn’t stricken the militiamen by a car and the verdict could not be handed down and her law client had to be acquitted.