Lihavid’s mother: My child is guilty of having no Russian passport
Mikita Lihavid accused of “the Dec.19 case” has been sentenced to 3.5 years of imprisonment in a top-security prison. It took four hearings to make the decision
29 members of special police troops gave evidence against the young man. They were said to have been injured during the dispersal of the protest action on the post-election evening. Only their interrogations took 2 days. The policemen were confused giving evidence and did not recognize the defendant but the court was not embarrassed. Natallya Pykina, judge of Minsk Partisan District Court, pronounced the sentence to the 20-year-old member of the movement “For Freedom”.
“I saw that the judge came down in favour of the prosecution on the very first day. She did not even listen to the lawyer today. It seemed that everything had been ordered before”, - said Mikita’s mother Alena Lihavid. The woman had been getting ready for the worse but it turned out worse than she had expected.
Alena Lihavid: “I expected and was ready for three years of imprisonment. But 3.5 years in a top-security prison… My child is only guilty of having no Russian passport in this situation”.
Mikita Lihavid’s mother probably meant the comparatively light sentences pronounced to Russian citizens Artyom Breus and Ivan Gaponov: they were released on parole in the court room. Human rights activist Valyantsin Stefanovich thinks that our legal system has demonstrated its dependence.
Valyantsin Stefanovich: “When Putin arrived and it was necessary to release the Russian citizens – they did it. Dzmitry Myadzvedz who stood trial on the same day was pronounced a similar sentence. Putin is not expected to arrive now and there are no more Russian citizens, only ours, so the further sentences will be like the one pronounced today. Human rights defenders insisted and still insist that there were no “mass disorders” in Minsk on December 19, 2010. Mikita Lihavid’s trial has demonstrated again that investigators have not proved it. Lihavid’s guilt has not been proved either”.
The main evidence of Mikita Lihavid’s guilt was a video showing him knocking on wooden shields behind the broken windows of the House of the Government.
