BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

06/07/2006

Trial of Belarus opposition leader begins - EU watch

Minsk - The trial of prominent Belarus opposition leader Aleksandr Kozulin began on Thursday under tight police security and in the presence for a part of the day of 10 EU ambassadors.

Kozulin stands accused of disturbance of the peace and incitement during anti-government demonstrations in March.

If convicted he could face five years in prison.

The former university professor Kozulin denounced the trial as illegal and said that sitting judge Aleksei Rybachiuk was acting without authority.

Rybachiuk denied Kozulin's request that the opposition leader's daughter Olga Kozulina conduct his defence and that police remove Kozulin's handcuffs.

The judge then ordered bailiffs to fit Kolzulin with a belt, tie, and a jacket for the purpose of preserving court decorum.

Rybachiuk banned television cameras in the court room by the afternoon, and by evening had kicked the foreign ambassadors out of court.

'Observation of court proceedings is a normal diplomatic right,' complained a statement from the German embassy in Minsk. Germany is acting as the lead EU state in diplomatic relations with the Lukashenko regime.

Lukashenko has repeatedly made clear his lack of concern with diplomatic protocol, at one point forcibly evicting Western diplomats from their housing because of alleged Western slights to his regime.

Kozulin's backers and journalists were unable to enter the 60- seat courtroom throughout the day, as supporters of authoritarian Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko had occupied it fully before its opening.

The March demonstrations had been in opposition to a national election Lukashenko won using Soviet-style election tactics.

The 10 European Union ambassadors had forced their way into the courtroom after challenging police to use force against the diplomats in front of international television cameras.

Belarusian police declined to do so, eyewitnesses said.

A crowd of over 100 Kozulin supporters, led by Belarusian opposition leader Aleksandr Milinkevich, had gathered by the Minsk court building as the hearing began.

Source:

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/article_1178524.php/Trial_of_Belarus_opposition_leader_begins_-_EU_watch

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