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Zmitser Dashkevich not to appeal court ruling

Zmitser Dashkevich does not plan to appeal the ruling by the Hlybokaye District Court that extended his prison term to August 28, 2013, BelaPAN said.

“Zmitser pleaded not guilty but is not going to appeal the ruling because he considers this useless,” Anastasiya Palazhanka, who is engaged to the imprisoned leader of Malady Front, an opposition youth organization.

In a closed-door trial held Tuesday in a correctional institution in Hlybokaye, Vitsyebsk region, the 31-year-old Dashkevich was found guilty of persistent violation of prison rules under Part One of the Criminal Code’s Article 411 and sentenced to a one-year prison term. The remaining four months of the previously imposed prison term were included in the new term.

According to Ms. Palazhanka, Mr. Dashkevich refused to answer questions during the hearing and waived the right to make a final speech. A total of 36 prison officers and inmates were questioned as witnesses during the trial and all of them testified against the accused.

On March 24, 2011, Mr. Dashkevich was sentenced to two years in a minimum-security correctional institution on a charge of "especially malicious hooliganism."

He was arrested in Minsk on December 18, 2010, on the eve of a scheduled large-scale post-election demonstration, for allegedly beating up two passers-by. Speaking during his trial, Mr. Dashkevich said that the incident was a provocation orchestrated by authorities and accused the two alleged victims of giving false testimony.

In September 2011, he refused an offer of freedom in exchange for asking Alyaksandr Lukashenka for a presidential pardon.