Opposition leader slams trials in absentia as authorities’ revenge

January 17, BPN. Authorities are taking “revenge on all Belarusians who stood up for freedom in 2020 and later,” opposition leader Sviatłana Cichanoŭskaja said commenting on the trial in absentia against members the opposition’s Coordinating Council.

Proceedings opened on January 17 at the Minsk City Court against Cichanoŭskaja, her former campaign manager Maryja Maroz, Pavieł Łatuška of the opposition’s transitional cabinet, and Coordinating Council members Volha Kavalkova and Siarhiej Dyleŭski without the defendants being present.

“The dictator doesn’t understand that the problem is not me, but him,” Cichanoŭskaja said. “He is the one who messed up the elections, seized power, terrorized people, sold Belarusian sovereignty to Russia and dragged our country into a war.”

Belarusian judiciary turned into a tool of persecution and terror since 2020, the politician noted. Trials in absentia violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens as people cannot even defend themselves, she added.

“One cannot expect justice in this situation,” Cichanoŭskaja said. “The defendants are not even told what they are accused of. They cannot get any information from the lawyers appointed by the regime. If they hire their own lawyer, he or she will obviously be fired or even imprisoned.”

The regime is ready to commit “any crime to stay in power,” she noted and compared trials in absentia to extrajudicial killings of political opponents or terror in the streets of Belarus.

“The fact that this crime takes place under the guise of a trial, where the role of the judge, prosecutor and defender is played by the regime’s henchmen, does not make it any less of a crime,” Cichanoŭskaja said.

“We all know who must stand trial – dictator [Alaksandr] Łukašenka and his henchmen,” she said. “We will continue to fight for the return of real justice in Belarus, the release of all political prisoners and ensure that those who commit crimes against our people are brought to justice,” she stressed.