CCPR/C/122/D/2212/2012 connection with the events of 19 December 2010. 14 The President of Belarus, Mr. Aleksandr Lukashenko, also referred to the author’s guilt in interviews with state-controlled television channels and with the Washington Post on 28 February 2011. 2.13 At the end of the pretrial investigation, while familiarizing himself with the materials relating to his case, the author learned that the Deputy Prosecutor General of Belarus had authorized the recording of telephone calls made by the author, his wife and members of his electoral campaign during the period 28 July 2010–19 December 2010, including when he was already officially registered as a candidate for the presidential elections. The author’s complaint of wiretapping was sent to the Prosecutor General of Belarus at the end of May 2011. Although he has never received a reply to that complaint and no investigation followed, information obtained illegally through that instance of wiretapping was used by the trial court as evidence of the author’s guilt. 2.14 On 15 April 2011, the Prosecutor’s Office forwarded the author’s case to the trial court. According to the final indictment, he was charged under article 293, part 1, of the Criminal Code with: appealing to the public to participate in a demonstration on 19 December 2010; spreading false information that the elections had been undemocratic and their results had been falsified; planning and preparing to incite the crowd to aggression; initiating a march from Oktyabrskaya Square to Nezavisimost Square; and manipulating the crowd with the aim of gaining access to the House of Government. During the hearings before Partizansky District Court, Minsk, the author’s and his lawyers’ numerous requests to, among other things, conduct examinations, adduce evidence, examine specific witnesses and submit video recordings made on 19 December 2010 using closed-circuit television cameras situated in Nezavisimost Square, were rejected. 15 For example, the author’s lawyers took witness statements on his behalf and provided photographs of Nezavisimost Square on the night of the demonstration. Those photographs were not, however, accepted as evidence by the court. In contrast, the court allowed the Prosecutor to enter as evidence recordings of telephone conversations involving the author, whose telephone had been tapped during the presidential campaign. The prosecution furnished no evidence that, at the demonstration, the author had committed, or incited other persons to commit, acts of disorder, violence, harm to individuals or destruction of property. In addition to the injuries he sustained to his legs during his arrest, the author has a documented history of medical problems. On multiple occasions, he requested the court to temporarily suspend the trial proceedings so that he could receive medical assistance, but those requests were refused. 2.15 On 14 May 2011, the author was found guilty, under article 293, part 1, of the Criminal Code, of having organized mass disorder, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in a high security penal colony. He filed a cassation appeal with Minsk City Court, stating, inter alia, that his rights under articles 7, 9, 14, 17, 19, 21 and 26 of the Covenant had been violated. The author had asked to be permitted to attend the hearing in person, but his request was rejected. The author’s cassation appeal was rejected by Minsk City Court after a very short hearing on 15 July 2011, and the author’s sentence entered into force. On an unspecified date, the author’s lawyers filed a request for a supervisory review with the Chair of Minsk City Court, which was rejected on 12 October 2011. On another unspecified date, the author’s lawyers filed a further request for a supervisory review with the Chair of the Supreme Court, which was rejected by the Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court on 27 January 2012. A second request for a supervisory review filed with the Chair of the Supreme Court was rejected by the First Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court on 9 April 2012. 2.16 The author submits that, while serving his sentence, he was transferred from one penal colony to another on two occasions without being informed of the reasons for those transfers, and that he was deprived of the possibility of meeting with his lawyers between 17 November 2011 and 16 January 2012. Each time the author’s lawyers visited the penal 14 15 6 See Sovietskaya Belorussiya, “Behind one conspiracy” (in Russian), 14 and 21 January 2011; “The square: iron against the glass” (in Russian), broadcast by Belarus-TV 1, on 9 January 2011; and the documentary “Ploščad-2010. Contrrevoljucija” (Square-2010. Counterrevolution) (in Russian). The author provides a detailed list of procedural actions that he requested and that were rejected by the trial court.