BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

24/10/2006

Latvian diplomat cleared

The Belarus Prosecutor General's Office on Oct. 11 dropped pornography charges against Reimo Smits, former second secretary of the Latvian Embassy.

The office apparently didn't say why the charges were dropped following "a preliminary criminal investigation."

In July, Belarus state television aired excerpts from a gay-sex tape, reportedly claiming it depicted Smits and had been seized from his Minsk apartment. Officials said the Belarus KGB raided Smits' residence because he was distributing porn. The 10-minute TV report reportedly described the several black-and-white snippets, seemingly captured by a hidden camera, as "a dirty homosexual orgy." Smits promptly returned to Latvia.

Latvian officials later suggested Belarus fabricated the sex and porn allegations because Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko disapproves of diplomats who promote democracy in his nation. Smits was a contact person for Belarus' democratic opposition. Latvia also called the raid on Smits' residence a "breach of the Vienna Convention because it was a violation of the private space of our diplomat."

Source:

http://www.tobe.ca/tobe/content.jsp?sid=17282532467785262420455428961&ctid=1000350&cnid=1000896