Juice importer set up in July 4 blast case?

Several staff from the Belarusian company that imports Sadochok juice have been charged with tax evasion 20 days after they were treated as suspects in masterminding the July 4, 2008 explosion during a mass concert in Minsk. Viktar Dranyuk, the father of one of the detainees, believes the Vladprodimport company was set up by competitors. However, Hary Pahanyaila, a lawyer specializing in human rights, says violations in the company indeed took place. Possible, by changing charges, the police try to justify an illegal detention of innocent people.

Hary Pahanyaila: “This is either a game of investigators or their unprofessional actions in order to disguise violations associated with the initial detention of people on terrorism charges who were being held without access to a lawyer. Possibly, they try to create an illusion that those people are guilty anyway but on the other – economic – charges”.

The list of detainees also includes the firm owner. Viktar Dranyuk, the father of detained Dzmitry, says that many of those charged have nothing to do with the company’s financial accountability. He believes they are being held in order to make them “speak out” incidentally.

“They are not associated with taxes, accounting or finances. They are now charged with tax evasion. Even the chief accountant has been released, but those people are still being held”, Viktar says.

He believes that competitors might have set up the company.

“Given that this firm was an exclusive distributor of Sadochok juice, someone put explosives into a juice pack deliberately in order to destroy the firm with the hands of security agencies”.

Viktar Dranyuk also has another version. Explosion can justify a total control over the population of Belarus.

ERB reminds that 14 staff from the Vladprodimport company were arrested in August. They were summoned for a conversation from Brest to Minsk and arrested as suspects in the July 4 blast case. They remained without being charged behind bars for 10 days. Only four days into their detention, lawyers were allowed to step in. On August 28, they were charged with tax evasion. It is worth noting that the official charges describe most of the detainees as “unidentified persons”.