Minsk court has sentenced 11 people, former employees of the customs checkpoint “Kamenny Log” to various terms of imprisonment.
They were found guilty of being members of an organized criminal group and receiving a bribe. Ashmyany customs employees were sentenced to 5 – 11.5 years in prison.
Dzmitry Kurnevich, recognized by the court as the crime group leader, was sentenced to 11.5 years.
Four people involved in the case did not admit their guilt. They got to 7 years in prison. Those who pleaded guilty, received 5 years.
Ales Yurkoyts, former customs officer, a well-known Belarusian ethnographer and public figure, did not admit guilt. At the trial, he spoke in the Belarusian language. He was accused of taking a bribe of 12 thousand dollars. Out of the 7 years of his sentence, he has spent 2 years in jail during the investigation.
Former customs inspectors were deprived of their ranks in the customs service. In addition, their property was confiscated and for 5 years they will be forbidden to occupy certain positions.
In 2015, the ‘Ashmiany customs’ case was launched by the KGB. According to Lukashenka, who also commented on the case, the corruption scheme had involved almost all employees of the Kamenny Log check point. The damage to the state economy, Lukashenka said, totalled millions of dollars, and this damage was to be compensated by a three- or five-fold figure. In total, the “Ashmiany Customs” case involves 58 people. Most of them have already received their sentences.
