«You've issued an acquittal — you can stop being a judge». Lawyer explains why justice is so bad in Belarus

According to Dzmitry Lepretar's observations, most Belarusian judges are former court session secretaries who later received higher education, improved their qualifications, and were eventually appointed to positions.

As Lepretar notes, he himself never considered himself in this role.

«To become a judge, one must have a certain mindset and character, and that's not my story at all,» the lawyer explains.

Why do lawyers who studied the same laws act differently?

Reflecting on why some lawyers choose to ignore legal norms, Lepretar notes that, on the one hand, this is the influence of the system that a university graduate enters:

«When you come to your first job after university, they tell you: 'Forget everything you were taught. Here's the practice — and work within its confines'. And you professionally exist within this practice as a judge or prosecutor.»

On the other hand, as the lawyer argues, fear plays a significant role — both for one's career and for maintaining material well-being: «People have loans, mortgages.»

«Plus, if you have established practice in certain cases, you don't need to think. You open a review of judicial practice and understand how to resolve this case. There are, of course, atypical cases that are brought to the level of the Supreme Court, but mostly it's routine practice.»

The lawyer notes that the judicial system self-reproduces through young personnel — former secretaries or assistants who have already seen the working style of their predecessors. According to Lepretar, cases of transitioning from advocacy to judges are very rare, as is the reverse process.

However, as the expert emphasizes, when former employees of the Investigative Committee or the Department of Financial Investigations become lawyers, the most interesting part begins:

«Their eyes are opened when they encounter real people who come for appointments with their problems and pain, and express to them this injustice that is happening. And very often one hears: 'This didn't happen when I was there, I didn't do that.' Although we know that they did do that.»

«Telephone law» and prosecutorial certificates

Regarding «telephone law», where judges are dictated the necessary decision, Lepretar notes: «Not without it.» According to him, this became especially evident in 2020:

«Colleagues said various things about how decisions, including those on administrative offenses, were made. Somewhere a pencil mark, something like this…»

As Lepretar notes, state prosecutors greatly simplify the judge's work: for each case, a certificate is prepared, which is then transferred to the text of the verdict via the «copy-paste» function. The question often remains only in the numbers after the word «sentenced».

Павялічыць

Dzmitry Lepretar. Screenshot of video: TOK_talk / YouTube

Why is there a meager number of acquittals in Belarus?

A chronic problem of the Belarusian judicial system remains the absence of acquittals. According to Lepretar, this is influenced by an indicator such as the «affirmation rate» of decisions on appeal. If a judge issues an acquittal, it can become a reason for an additional check of his qualifications, after which he can «simply stop being a judge».

Lepretar emphasizes that the judicial system of Belarus is not independent. In a democratic country, the court is a full-fledged third branch of power. In Belarus, however, there is enormous dependence on the executive vertical: all judges are appointed by presidential decree for a certain term.

«Every judge understands that the reappointment term is approaching, and whether you will be reappointed is a big question. And will you be moved further up the career ladder? (…) It's clear that not everyone reaches the Supreme Court, but there is a certain rotation — who goes where.»

As the lawyer argues, lifetime appointment could become one of the guarantees of independence. Then a person would understand that he would not be dismissed from his post in a few years for an «inconvenient» decision.

Acquittal and revenge on the lawyer

One of the most resonant cases of an acquittal was the case of the chief engineer of MZKT Andrei Halavach, who was accused of 35 episodes of receiving bribes. After being acquitted in the criminal case, he was immediately detained in the courtroom within the framework of a new case, which also eventually ended in an acquittal. In total, the man spent four years in a pre-trial detention center.

As Lepretar recalls, the MZKT employee was defended by lawyer Vera Areshka, who at that time was the deputy chairman of the Minsk City Bar Association. After the acquittal in the first case, law enforcement officers came to her and began persecution for an allegedly found pistol during a search.

«This was a clear attack on her due to the acquittal and an attempt to remove her from the second criminal case or intimidate other lawyers,» the lawyer expresses his opinion.

When asked how Vera Areshka managed to fight back in the end, Lepretar notes that he does not know exactly, but assumes that the issue was resolved at the highest level:

«The Republican Bar Association went to the level of either the Presidential Administration or the Prosecutor General's Office.»

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