Euroradio's journalist Pavel Svyardlou released (photo+video)
The correspondent spent 15 days in the Akrestsina Street detention center allegedly for swearing in public.
The journalist's relatives, friends and colleagues met him at 10 a.m. by the walls of the detention center.
Let us remind you, Euroradio journalist Pavel Svyardlou was detained near his house in the morning of June 22 when he was going to work. The policemen put him into a bus and kept him there for several hours. He was quickly sentenced for petty hooliganism in the afternoon on that very day.
The policemen did not let him call his family and colleagues and write down his own version of the events in the report. The Maskouski district court of Minsk sentenced Svyardlou to 15 days of detention. As Pavel had no opportunity to provide any information about himself, the lawyer and Pavel's colleagues arrived when the judge was already pronouncing the sentence.
Two policemen gave evidence against Pavel Svyardlou. One of them told that he
was in Rafiyeu Street, 80 and heard the journalist swearing in Lermantau
Street, 80. However, such address does not exist. The distance between those
streets is 5 kilometers. These contradictions were not taken into account.
The journalist filed an
appeal against the sentence right after his first meeting with the lawyer in
Akrestsina Street detention center on June 25. The lawyer also sent her own
appeal the next day. The hearing was appointed to take place in Minsk City
Court on June 29 at 3 p.m. However, it turned out that Svyardlou's appeal had
not reached the court within the four days and the hearing was postponed.
The appeal was considered on July 6 - judge Alena Shylko left the sentence in
force.