The UN Committee on Human Rights found that the trial of former Minister of Foreign Economic Relations of Belarus Mikhail Marynich was a political reprisal. In December 2004, Minsk court sentenced a former minister for five-year imprisonment for having stolen the U.S. Embassy office equipment.
According to the UN Committee on Human Rights, the Belarusian secret services monitored the trial of Mikhail Marynich closely, and judges evaluated the facts and witnesses’ testimony, gathered during the investigation, «Narodnaya Volia» reports.
In addition, the UN Committee on Human Rights found that, the Belarusian politician was tortured and treated in an inhuman and degrading manner.
In this regard, the UN Committee on Human Rights considers that the Belarusian government must ensure Mikhail Marynich «appropriate treatment, including appropriate compensation, and conduct criminal proceedings to establish liability for improper treatment of Mr. Marynich». Official Minsk is given a little more than a hundred days to give the UN a report on the actions taken.
Mikhail Marynich considers the decision of the UN Committee on Human Rights as a positive step. As he says, it’s the first case of rehabilitation of political prisoners by the international organization in the history of Belarus, which is very important for the whole Belarusian society.
