JUDGE ORDERS CONTINUANCE IN KIM CASE, TRIAL TO BE

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000193

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AMEMBASSY MINSK SENDS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2018
TAGS: PREL PHUM PINR BO LH
SUBJECT: JUDGE ORDERS CONTINUANCE IN KIM CASE, TRIAL TO BE
JOINED WITH OTHERS

REF: A. MINSK 099

B. MINSK 219

C. MINSK 221

Classified By: A/DCM Louis J. Crishock for reason 1.4 (d)


1. (C) After opening formalities, Andrey Kim's trial for an
alleged assault against a police officer during a January
entrepreneurs' demonstration was halted April 1. The
presiding judge ordered both a continuance in the case and
the joining of this trial with another trial of Kim and
numerous other defendants on charges of organizing or
participating in an event that disrupts the public order.
Civil society activists present at the trial told A/DCM that
they expected the trial would reconvene within two weeks.

Leading Opposition Figures Come Out to Support Kim
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2. (C) Many leading figures from civil society and the
democratic opposition attended the trial as a show of moral
support for the 22-year old Kim. Former presidential
candidate and leader of "For Freedom" Aleksandr Milinkevich,
Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) Chair Levon Barshchevskiy,
United Civic Party Chair Anatoliy Lebedko, and former
political prisoner and leader of the Belarusian Social
Democratic Party-Narodnaya Gramada Nikolay Statkevich were
just a few of the politicians and activists present to
support Kim. In addition to A/DCM, diplomats from the French
local EU presidency and the OSCE observed the proceedings.

Kim Seems Strong; The Evidence Against Him, Not So Strong
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3. (C) Kim was seated in the courtroom's holding cell for
most of the proceedings. Dressed in a black t-shirt with a
bible passage written on it, Kim -- who has been incarcerated
since January 21 (ref A) -- appeared to be in good health and
spirits and answered the judge's questions in a strong voice.


4. (C) Enira Bronitskaya, a former political prisoner and
leader of the NGO Solidarnost, told A/DCM that the decision
to order a continuance and to join Kim's trial to other
proceedings came as no surprise. The GOB's case against Kim,
in Bronitskaya's opinion, was weak. She intimated that she
had seen the tape the GOB intends to introduce as evidence
against Kim and it shows little to support the assault charge.

Spetsnaz Troops Drive Kim Supporters from the Street
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5. (C) During a break in the proceedings, youth activists
earlier turned away from the trial due to lack of space
assembled on a sidewalk across the street from the court and
unfurled a "Freedom For Andrey Kim" banner and chanted
"Freedom" and "Andrey, We are with you." Soon after,
Spetsnaz troops forcibly removed them from the area.

Comment
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6. (C) Unfortunately -- both for him and for Belarus -- the
outcome of this trial has little to do with the strength of
the evidence against Kim. His conviction is all but a
certainty, with a long sentence a strong possibility: on the
assault charge alone he could receive six years behind bars.
The regime's willingness to violently suppress peaceful
demonstrators (ref B),to persecute the free press (ref C)
and to create new political prisoners should put to rest any
notion of its readiness for substantial reform.

Moore
CLOUD