Belarusian laws don't allow punishing twice for same crime but courts still do it
Last year a protester was sentenced to 15 days of arrest; the other day, he was sentenced to three years in jail for the same thing.
Alyaksei Maltsau from Minsk, who is 25, has been sentenced to three years in a general regime penal colony for his participation in the September 13, 2020 protests, the HRC “Viasna” writes.
He was charged with “group actions grossly violating public order” (Part 1 Article 342 of the Criminal Code) and “attempted theft” (Part 2 Article 205 of the Criminal Code). The human rights activists didn’t write what the second article was related to.
As for the first article, the man was accused of the following. On September 13th, he allegedly went out on the balcony while intoxicated, saw the protesters, shouted the slogan “Zhyve Belarus” (Long Live Belarus), and then called the protesters to join him – went outside and took part in an unsanctioned rally. He walked with other people along the roadway to the “Minsk Arena,” thus interfering with the traffic and work of businesses, and when he approached the first row of police officers, he made obscene gestures to them.
When asked why he did that, the defendant replied that he had seen videos of protesters beating people up.
That evening he was detained near the Pushkinskaya metro station but was taken out of town in a minibus and released. However, in October, he was sentenced to 15 days in jail for September 13.
Now he is being tried again for participating in the same protest. The Belarusian legislation does not directly prohibit but does not allow punishment for the same thing under the administrative and criminal codes. It is clearly stated that you can’t punish twice for the same thing under the Criminal Code (paragraph 6 of Article 3 of the Criminal Code). One can only be punished under the Criminal Code for a repeated administrative violation.
