Belarus To Start Proceedings In Absentia Against Opposition Figures Who Left - Official

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th November, 2021) Minsk is working out the initiative of court proceedings in absentia against opposition figures who left Belarus, mostly for EU countries, and who are not extradited back to Belarus, Belarusian Security Council Secretary Aleksandr Volfovich said on Sunday.

"There has probably been a fault in our procedural criminal legislation. The principle of inevitability of criminal punishment for a crime committed is not fulfilled: (a person) committed a crime here and left and lives abroad. Even upon request of the law enforcement system, they (opposition figures) are not extradited out of political reasons.

It is proposed to amend the law, so that there is the opportunity to hold them criminally liable, meaning to convict," Volfovich told the Belarusian STV broadcaster.

Volfovich explained that if those amendments are adopted, "court will sentence in absentia to this or that punishment depending on gravity of the crime."

"Of course, if a person is abroad, of course, they will not be extradited. But the fact that they are sentenced to two or three years of imprisonment or any other sentence, which will be defined by court, will have a certain impact," Volfovich said.