How long will Sasha Varlamau’s trial last?

Fashion designer Sasha Varlamau has been standing trial for over 4 months already. The cases papers have been studied for over a month.

Sahsa Varlamau is using a crutch and has to take pain killers. He was jailed in May 2011 and has undergone 4 operations on his spine since then. There are 535 victims and more than 500 witnesses in his case. The case papers are arranged in 147 volumes.

The court has the right to keep people in jail for up to one year, a Minsk bar lawyer said.

“If there are many volumes, it takes a lot of time. The Criminal Code does not specify the term for it. However, the maximum term for staying in jail is 12 months.”

The suspect may also been kept in jail or up to 18 months before standing trial. Sasha Varlamau has spent almost the same time in Valadarski Street. Thus, he has already spent more than 2 years in jail.

Such cases are not rare, the General Prosecutor’ Office noted.

“It can happen if the case is complicated or there are many prisoners at the bar. It often happens in regional courts when they are considering a murder case and there are many people connected with the case.”

Compare: the Minsk metro blast trial took 5 months. It took 2.5 months to study all the 565 volumes of the case and to pronounce the sentence to Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou.

Varlamau’s trial with 147 volumes of case papers have already taken more than 4 months.

“The court has to read out every case paper and investigation report. Otherwise it would be possible to say that the court did not study those papers. All this takes a lot of time”, one of Minsk bar lawyers explained.

Some witnesses refused from their evidence in court and said that pressure had been exercised on them.

However, such longs trials are common, Minsk Central District Court said. They recalled at least one trial like this in the past 2 months.

“There is one case that has been considered for over 5 months. There are many documents and witnesses.”

Sasha Varlamau is accused of major fraud, misappropriation, tax evasion, power abuse and major larceny. According to unofficial sources, the trail may end in the next few months.

Photo: Euroradio