Former political prisoner Alyaksandr Kazulin’s conviction not overturned

• 10.10.2008, 9:05

The Internal Ministry of Belarus refutes statements of some officials that the conviction of the former political prisoner Alyaksandr Kazulin, who served the term for organizing peaceful protest rallies against rigged election results, has been overturned.

- Kazulin was pardoned by the decree of the president, but that doesn’t mean that his conviction was removed from official records, -- “KP in Belarus” was told by the acting spokesperson of the Interior Ministry of Belarus Aleh Slepchanka. – The act of pardon said nothing about removing conviction from official records”.

The Interior Ministry press-service noted: pardon and early release does not say that Kazulin is fully acquitted. Thus, Kazulin won’t be able to run in the next presidential elections, as he doesn’t have the record of his conviction expunged.

However, basing on the Article 96 Part 2 of the Criminal Code, Kazulin can expect removing conviction from official records: “Basing o the act of pardon the person convicted for a crime could be released from main and additional penalty, or released from penalty conditionally, or part of the term which hasn’t been served can be substituted by a milder punishment for such a person, or the conviction can be overturned”. But the president has to sign one more decree for that.

However, the former presidential candidate can go abroad without limitations.

- He is not on the list of persons banned from leaving abroad, as at the moment he is not under investigation and has no liabilities to the state, -- Slepchanka explained.

As we have informed, on July 13, 2006Alyaksandr Kazulin was sentenced to 5.5 years of imprisonment for staging peaceful protest rallies against rigged election results. On August 16 Alyaksandr Kazulin was pardoned by a decree of Alyaksandr Lukashenka.