In Minsk, a criminal case was opened against a Polish judge who refused to extradite Nexta editor-in-chief Stepan Putilo to the Belarusian authorities

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus opened a criminal case against the Polish judge Dariusz Lubovsky, who refused to extradite Nexta editor-in-chief Stepan Putilo to the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.

How says on the website of the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office, the judge is suspected of “public dissemination of knowingly false information aimed at inciting ethnic hatred and social discord”, he allegedly “insulted and slandered the highest officials of the Republic of Belarus”.

“Such actions by an official acting on behalf of the Polish state testify to a clear lack of professionalism, ignorance of the basic principles of the administration of justice and international obligations. They confirm the deliberate bias and fabrication of the trial in a specific criminal case, its politicization and ordered nature. At the same time, the very procedure of announcing the decision was clearly theatrical,” it was reported.

January 26 Warsaw District Court refused Minsk in the issuance of the founder of the NEXTA Telegram channel Stepan Putilo. The Polish prosecutor’s office asked to recognize Putilo’s extradition as legally unacceptable, the court upheld this position.

During the announcement of the decision, Lubovsky noted that justice does not exist in Belarus.

“You cannot bring someone to justice if this system of justice does not exist at all. You cannot give someone into the hands of a state that is not really a state,” Judge Lubovsky said.

The judge argued his decision by the fact that, from the point of view of all EU countries, Belarus currently does not have legal powers. “This country is demanding the extradition of a completely innocent citizen just because he has different views,” the judge said.

In February 2021, the Belarusian Investigative Committee sent documents to Poland for the extradition of Stepan Putilo. The Belarusian court also recognized the NEXTA Telegram channel and its logo as extremist.

Putilo was charged with organizing mass riots and group actions involving disobedience to the legitimate demands of government officials, as well as inciting social hatred and discord. As part of the criminal case, a measure of restraint in the form of detention was applied to him, he was put on the wanted list.