German expert to Euroradio: I was invited by OSCE following a request from Belarus government
The European Radio for Belarus has found German professor Martin Finke who studied the case of Mikalai Autukhovich. German expert Martin Finke studied the case of Mikalai Autukhovich, an entrepreneur from Vaukavysk, who has been in pretrial detention since February 2009 facing charges of arson and of planning a terror attack. Finke was in Minsk back in June but his secret visit has been revealed only now. The expert allegedly did not find any violations and wrote about it in his report.
To confirm all this, the European Radio for Belarus has found Martin Finke in Germany. According to the expert, he visited our country at the request of the OSCE.
Martin Finke: “I was invited by the OSCE”.
But, it has turned out that the initiative to invite the German expert originated from the Belarus government. That's why the OSCE forwarded Finke's report (after a necessary evaluation) to Minsk.
Martin Finke: “I submitted my conclusions to the OSCE, and the OSCE forwarded them partially or fully to the government, because it was the government that asked the OSCE for an expert”.
As for the contents of the report, the expert signed his obligation not to reveal the materials of the case, When asked what he could say about the details of the case, the German scoffed::
“Nothing, because I am obliged to keep silence”.
The only thing that we managed to find out from Martin Finke is that he found no law violations in the case of Autukhovich.
Martin Finke: “I was simply looking for violations. I was criticizing the Belarusian laws as usual, but I found no violations of the Belarus laws in this case”.
The professor added later: “So far…”.
Martin Finke learned that Mikalai Autukhovich is described as a political prisoner only after he had submitted his report to the OSCE. But it sounds like he does not regard this case as a political one.
Towards the end of our conversation, we asked him why it was Martin Finke who was invited as an expert in the case of Autukhovich. His reply was as follows:
“Because I have worked for a long time in the field of criminal process in the Eastern Europe”.
Many questions remain open after the conversation with the German expert. The materials of the case remain secret; why the Belarus government invited Mr Finke; why an external evaluation of the case was required. The European Radio for Belarus approached prominent human rights defender Ales Bialiatski. He commented as follows:
Ales Bialiatski: “I am convinced that the Belarus government did it in order to show that the investigation of the Autukhovich case is objective and has no political implication”.
The human rights activist remain sceptical that Martin Finke's report could be used.
Ales Bialiatski: “It will definitely be used for propaganda goals. But it is unlikely it will be used in court".
Photo: nn.by
To confirm all this, the European Radio for Belarus has found Martin Finke in Germany. According to the expert, he visited our country at the request of the OSCE.
Martin Finke: “I was invited by the OSCE”.
But, it has turned out that the initiative to invite the German expert originated from the Belarus government. That's why the OSCE forwarded Finke's report (after a necessary evaluation) to Minsk.
Martin Finke: “I submitted my conclusions to the OSCE, and the OSCE forwarded them partially or fully to the government, because it was the government that asked the OSCE for an expert”.
As for the contents of the report, the expert signed his obligation not to reveal the materials of the case, When asked what he could say about the details of the case, the German scoffed::
“Nothing, because I am obliged to keep silence”.
The only thing that we managed to find out from Martin Finke is that he found no law violations in the case of Autukhovich.
Martin Finke: “I was simply looking for violations. I was criticizing the Belarusian laws as usual, but I found no violations of the Belarus laws in this case”.
The professor added later: “So far…”.
Martin Finke learned that Mikalai Autukhovich is described as a political prisoner only after he had submitted his report to the OSCE. But it sounds like he does not regard this case as a political one.
Towards the end of our conversation, we asked him why it was Martin Finke who was invited as an expert in the case of Autukhovich. His reply was as follows:
“Because I have worked for a long time in the field of criminal process in the Eastern Europe”.
Many questions remain open after the conversation with the German expert. The materials of the case remain secret; why the Belarus government invited Mr Finke; why an external evaluation of the case was required. The European Radio for Belarus approached prominent human rights defender Ales Bialiatski. He commented as follows:
Ales Bialiatski: “I am convinced that the Belarus government did it in order to show that the investigation of the Autukhovich case is objective and has no political implication”.
The human rights activist remain sceptical that Martin Finke's report could be used.
Ales Bialiatski: “It will definitely be used for propaganda goals. But it is unlikely it will be used in court".
Photo: nn.by
