Kulakou: Themis Is Blindfolded, Because She Is Ashamed To Look At Belarusian Judges

The judge, who handles the "trade unions case", has already conducted more than 40 political trials.

According to human rights defenders, judge of the Savetski district court of Minsk Maryna Fiodarava, who now handles the "trade unions case", has conducted more than 40 trials on politically motivated articles over the past ten years. The "Viasna" HRC asked the activist of the European Belarus civil campaign to recall the most notorious administrative trials, where Maryna Fiodarava presided.

"It's okay. The person made a mistake, that’s all".

In 2017, right after the mass detentions on Freedom Day, activist of the European Belarus civil campaign Leanid Kulakou was sentenced to 25 days of arrest by Maryna Fiodarava. Despite the discrepancy between the testimonies of police witnesses and the mistakes in administrative protocols, the judge found the activist guilty of "disobeying the official's legal demands" (Article 23.4 of the Administrative Offenses Code) and "violating the procedure for organizing and holding mass events" (Article 23.34 of the Administrative Offenses Code).

"At that trial, the Viasna human rights activist Andrei Paluda was sitting next to me, and when Judge Fiodarava asked one of the false witnesses to show whom he had detained on March 25, he immediately pointed to Paluda, then I got furious and told the judge: " Are you really going to try me further on after this? " To which she replied: "It's okay. The person made a mistake, that’s all".

After that, I lost all respect for her. I refused to answer her questions, because I realized that this was no longer a trial, but a performance. She was told to sentence me and so she did. Then I wanted to tell her: "Do you know why Themis is blindfolded? Because she is ashamed to look at the Belarusian judges. She closed her eyes with shame because she could no longer look at this disgrace! " the activist is indignant.

As for the case of Fiadynich and Komlik, Leanid Kulakou does not have any illusions about the probability of acquittal here. In his opinion, the judge can find them not guilty only if she has a corresponding order from the above.