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Judgment in Haydukow’s trial to be pronounced on July 1

 

A judgment in the case trial of young opposition activist Andrey Haydukow, who is charged with high treason, will be pronounced on July 1, according to a human rights organization called Vyasna (Spring).

Although the trial of the 23-year-old Haydukow has been held behind closed doors, the final court session will be open to the public, Vyasna said.

The hearing of the case began in the Vitsyebsk Regional Court on June 12.

Andrey Haydukow, a fifth-year student at the chemical engineering and technology department of Polatsk State University and a fitter in charge of instrumentation at the Naftan oil refinery in Navapolatsk, was arrested in Vitsyebsk on November 8, 2012. He was taken to the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB) in Minsk and charged with spying.

KGB spokesman Alyaksandr Antanovich announced on November 13 that Mr. Haydukow had "gathered and passed political and economic information on the instructions of a foreign intelligence agency," and that he had been caught in the act of making a dead drop.

Mr. Haydukow, an activist of an unregistered organization called the Union of Young Intellectuals, said in a letter that he was suspected of offering to gather sensitive information about Belarus for the US Central Intelligence Agency.

According to him, the KGB claims that his activities could cause damage to the national security of Belarus and describes them as an attempt to undermine the constitutional system of Belarus and impose a policy that does not meet its national interests. The KGB accuses him of trying to destabilize the social and political situation in Belarus and seeking financial assistance from the CIA through the US embassy in Minsk.

On June 19, KGB chief Valery Vakulchyk told reporters that the high treason charge against Mr. Haydukow might be replaced with another one.

"It’s not a fact that Haydukow will stand trial under Article 356,” he said, without elaborating.

General Vakulchyk assured reporters that they would receive “full information” about the trial after it was over, and that only classified information would not be released to the public.

He said that Judge Urbanovich would decide for herself when to pronounce her judgment. “I have no doubt that everything will be impartial,” he said.

Article 356 provides for penalties ranging from up to 15 years in prison to the death sentence. // BelaPAN