Political prisoner out of jail: Top secret 'spy' case was fabricated


Andrey Haydukou was ordered to pack his bag at 6 am, though prisoners are usually released at 11. He was taken to the central railway station in Vitsebsk at 7 am. Police officers gave him money for a ticket to his native town of Navapolatsk, RFE/RL reports.

Mr Haudukou believes that his criminal case was fabricated and puts persecution down to the activity of the unregistered organisation ‘The Union of Young Intellectuals’, he told journalists.

Andrey Haudukou was arrested by the State Security Committee (KGB) on November 8, 2012 in Vitsebsk. On November 13, 2013 KGB spokesman Aliaksandr Antanovich announced that Mr Haydukou ‘had gathered and passed political and economic information on the instructions of a foreign intelligence agency,’ and that he had been caught in the act of making a dead drop. Firstly the youth activist was accused of treason against the Fatherland, then the charge was softened. On July 1, 2013 Vitsebsk regional court found Andrey Haydukou guilty of ‘an attempt of establishing contacts with foreign intelligence services without signs of high treason’ and sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment. Mr Haydukou had to appear before court in camera despite human rights activists’ demands to make the trial public. Belarusian human rights organisations recognised him a political prisoner.

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