Elena Tonkacheva: For publication of secretive court records punishment should be awarded

Those editors who publish case or court materials should feel the attention of the society towards such actions.

Such an opinion in the interview with the EuroBelarus Information Service shared Elena Tonkacheva, human rights activist and the head of the Legal Transformation Centre “Lawtrend”

Let us recall that recently “SB. Belarus Today” spread the information presumably taken from the materials of the criminal case or during the secretive trial, before the sentence legally came into force. Legal Transformation Centre “Lawtrend” addressed its appeal to the Attorney General's Office in relation with the pro-government paper’s publications. In this regard human rights fighters demanded to stop spread of one-sided information and to perform public prosecutor's control of the circumstances in which the materials of the case were disclosed.

As it became known from the report of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, Savetski District Prosecutor's Office of Minsk redirected an appeal of the “Lawtrend” to the police.

“When appealing to the Prosecutor’s Office we assumed that it can quite quickly and efficiently stop the violation of law”, - told Elena Tonkacheva. She noticed that “SB. Belarus Today” newspaper has stopped publishing Haidukau’s case records after the “Lawtrend” published its full legal stance and reported about its appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office. “I think there is our share in that; because the first two publications were accompanied with the postscript which promised the continuation of the publications”.

Why did the district Prosecutor's Office redirect an appeal of the “Lawtrend” to the police then? “On the one hand, it is possible that the Prosecutor’s Office has decided that it cannot undertake any arrangements for fast response; however, we believe that the prosecutor’s office should have considered the materials thoroughly”.

“Starting from the moment when the court materials are redirected from the Prosecutor’s Office, there is at least a month for the response”, - Elena Tonkacheva said.

Is it possible that such appeals will stop the habit to publish secretive court record in the pro-government media?

“I think that punishment should be awarded for such actions in order to make editors understand that people concerned with the observance of law are watching the process, - stated Elena Tonkacheva. – Until the feeling of impunity exists, it will continue. But as soon as we get some proper response from the law-enforcement authorities, it might make these actions look inadmissible with time”.