English

Subway bombing trial begins in Minsk

The trial of two Vitsyebsk residents accused of four bomb attacks that were committed in Belarus between September 2005 and April 2011 began in the House of Justice in Minsk on September 15.

Judge Alyaksandr Fedartsow, first deputy chairman of the Supreme Court, is presiding over the hearing that is open to the public.

Before the trial began, sniffer dogs were used to examine the courthouse, apparently for the possible presence of explosive devices.

The pair are believed to be behind the two 2005 bomb explosions in Vitsyebsk, the bomb attack that occurred during an open-air Independence Day concert in Minsk in July 2008 and the April 11, 2011 deadly bombing in the Minsk subway that killed 15 and injured more than 200 people.

One of them, Dzmitry Kanavalaw, is accused of terrorism, illegal acquisition of weapons, ammunition and explosive materials, malicious hooliganism and deliberate destruction of property.

The other man, Uladzislaw Kavalyow, is accused of complicity in an act of terrorism, illegal acquisition of weapons, ammunition and explosive materials, malicious hooliganism, deliberate destruction of property, concealment of crime and failure to report a crime.

The trial is taking place in the auditorium of the House of Justice, not a regular courtroom, because of the big number of attending victims and reporters and a heavy police presence.

The handcuffed Kanavalaw and Kavalyow sat inside a locked metal cage at the opening session.

Among those attending the trial was one of the victims who was injured in the subway bombing. Five months after the blast, the young man still has to use crutches. //BelaPAN