Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “The other day the Supreme Court announced its plans to hear a criminal case against me in my absence. I have already commented on these “trials in absentia”. They violate basic human rights and freedoms. That is why I will not let such a “trial” against me be overlooked.
The lawyers of my team and I are not going to turn a blind eye to the regime's lawlessness and ignorance of international treaties. Like all defendants, I have the right to know what I am charged with, receive copies of documents, take part in the process, and have a defender. That's why on January 11 I wrote an appeal to inform the Minsk City Court of my intention to exercise my right to an attorney. I also informed the Minsk Bar Association and the Belarusian National Bar Association that I wanted to contact my assigned attorney and develop the position.
I know exactly where this is going. The so-called defense attorney won't do anything, and the so-called judge will read out the sentence, coinciding with the prosecution's demands, off a slip of paper from the authorities.
But I will not confine myself to public statements about the violation of my rights. After all, the future evidence of who violated people's rights in Belarus and how it was done will be concrete documents, not political statements. I will appeal all illegal actions all the way up to the international human rights protection mechanisms.
These documents will later become evidence of the persecution of Belarusians in fair trials against perpetrators. Therefore, our common priority now is to preserve any evidence. This is a step we can take in the present – for our common future”.
