Participant of Process of Fourteen Mikhail Pashkevich: “Some people sent to prison, and some go to Prague”
- 20.04.2009, 11:47
One of the persons involved in the “Process of Fourteen”, the leader of the “Young Democrats” Mikhail Pashkevich condemn invitation to Alyaksandr Lukashenka to the European Union summit in May.
“I would like to say the following: some people are committed to prison, like me and Alyaksandr Barazenka, and other participants of the Process of Fourteen, while some people go to Prague,” Mikhail Pashkevich said in an interview to the press-centre of the Charter’97. “Europe has yielded. I would not say something bad about that, if some other official would go to Prague, for instance, Syarhei Martynau. But if they invite Lukashenka, it means that all the beautiful words about the Eastern Partnership cost nothing. We see that Dubski and Dashuk have been released, so it seems that there are changes on the face of it. But the criminal prosecution of the persons involved in the “Process of Fourteen” hasn’t been abated. I have heart from my investigator today that Tatsyana Tsishkevich (one of the persons involved in the Process of Fourteen, who studies in Poland now) has been put on the list of wanted persons. Only one principle works in our country: “when you have a person, it’s easy to find a reason for prosecution”. Our system is so clumsy, that it is to destroy itself. But as the dictator is invited to the summit in Prague, it means that “something is rotten in the state of Europe”…
It should be noted that the “Process of Fourteen” is a criminal case under article 342 of the Criminal Code of Belarus, instigated against participants of a peaceful protest demonstration of entrepreneurs held on January 10, 2008.
For participation in this protest a young activist Andrei Kim was sentenced to a year and a half in a penal colony (he was released in August 2008). An activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Alyaksandr Barazenka was sentenced to 1 year of restriction of liberty without sending him to a penal colony. He was kept in remand jail from October 27 to December 9, 2008. Other participants of the Process of Fourteen – Alyaksei Bondar, Artsyom Dubski, Mikhal Kryvau, Mikhal Pashkevich, Ales Straltsou, Ales Charnyshou, Tatsyana Tsishkevich, Mikhail Subach and Paval Vinahradau, were sentenced to 2 years of restriction of freedom without sending them to penitentiary institutions. Minor Maxim Dashuk got 1.5 years of restraint of liberty.