On July, 10 Basmany court of Moscow starts the investigation of the case of a Belarusian citizen Juraś Ivaniukovič accused of “vandalism, i.e. violating buildings and other constructions”. On May, 9 he wrote using a felt-tip “Žyvie Biełaruś (Long Lives Belarus)” and “BT chłusić (Belarusian Television lies)” on the plates situated on the wall of the embassy of the Republic of Belarus in Russia. The inscriptions were immediately wiped out and Ivaniukovič was arrested.

On July, 6 a press-conference of Juraś Ivaniukovič and his defender Stanislav Markelov took place in the Independent press centre.

Markelov noted that the inscriptions were made not on the building itself but rather on the plates which in contrast to the building are of no historic value for they were placed in the early 90s. Besides, no one of the embassy staff lodged a complaint on account of vandalising their property. That is why one cannot regard the actions of his client as vandalism, underscored Markelov.      

The lawyer informed the public that Juraś Ivaniukovič barely speaks Russian. Under the law he has got the right for interpreter service of which he had to be informed in his language. Nevertheless, the proposal was stated in Russian where the word “pieravodčyk” (Russian for “interpreter”) has a different meaning. That is why Ivaniukovič rejected the service of an interpreter. The lawyer appointed to him does not know Belarusian and, besides, he did not state a single protest on the indictment.

Stanislav Markelov, taking the case shortly before the court hearings, underlines that it is impossible to prosecute a person if the court documents are in the language incomprehensible to the accused. The lawyer has also stated that in defiance of the law the consul of the Republic of Belarus was not invited to Ivaniukovič.

Maximum sentence on the article “vandalism” is a year of correction work.