We remember... Andrei Klimov

Andrei Klimov

Andrei Klimov, who is thirty-four years old, is Deputy of the 13th Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus. He is a member of the ad hoc commission “On legal evaluation of violations of the Constitution and laws of Belarus by the president of the Republic of Belarus, A. Lukashenko”. He was also one of the initiators to Lukashenko’s impeachment in November 1996. He is the owner of the Construction Company “Andrei Klimov and K”. After the 1996 referendum, wide scale pressure and persecution of his business began. KGB, police officers, and employees of the president’s administration and Security Council were involved. On February 11, 1998 Andrei Klimov was arrested on the way to work without a sanction from the public prosecutor and without consent of the Supreme Council.

While in jail he began a dry hunger strike to protest the violation of the 1994 Constitution according to which he had deputy immunity. According to the Act of Belarus “On Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus” as of December 21, 1994 article 106 “Deputy of the Supreme Council can not be arrested or instituted criminal proceedings against or deprived of freedom in any other form without consent of the Supreme Council except for cases when a deputy is caught while committing a crime. Only the General Persecutor with the consent of the Supreme Council can open a criminal case against a deputy. In this case the 13th Supreme Council did not sanction the arrest of A. Klimov. The Council demanded several times his release from prison, as the arrest was illegal.

Just before his arrest A. Klimov became even more active as a parliamentarian. He wrote and sent copies of a letter – addressed to the heads of various departments in which he described the violations of the Constitution and laws by President A. Lukashenko and warned them about the legal responsibility for following Lukashenko’s decrees as he had committed a coup d’etat in November 1996. In this letter A. Klimov reminded once again that the referendum was illegal. He was arrested the next day after the meeting of the ad hoc commission. At that meeting a draft resolution on sufficient legal grounds to start the political procedure of impeachment of president Lukashenko was worked out.

During the investigation A. Klimov refused to testify. He insisted his imprisonment was illegal. The trial began in August 1999 (after 17 months of investigation). In 8 months the court found A. Klimov guilty of theft for falsifying his construction company’s records. The verdict was 6 year in prison and confiscation of property. The accusation is based on economic issues that should have been considered by an economic court. On December 13 A. Klimov was severely beaten by the investigating police officers at the detention jail. He was brought to the Leninski District court of the city of Minsk by force where the hearing took place. The doctor reported to the court that the preliminary medical diagnosis stated that A. Klimov had suffered injuries to his brain and stomach. On December 24, the persecutor’s office refused to open a criminal case on the basis of the beating. In connection with such treatment of A. Klimov the State Department made the official statement.

Andrei Klimov was arrested for his political convictions and for his active work in the opposition, the 13th Supreme Council, and for participation in the ad hoc commission and its attempt to impeach President A. Lukashenko. Criminal persecution of A. Klimov is viewed by some as retaliation by the government for his sharp words addressed to president Lukashenko during one of the session of the Supreme Council. He said, “This is a coup d’etat! Give me handcuffs and I will arrest Lukashenko!” Several groups who strive to promote a political atmosphere that is free of political persecution consider Andrei Klimov a political prisoner.

Right after Andrei’s arrest he was accused of falsifying the volume of construction work and prices of construction materials. According to Decree № 4 of August 4, 1997 both the customer and contractor could be fined and the money should be paid to the budget. There is a clause in Andrei’s agreement that if any disputes arise they should be settled in the economic court. Klimov was arrested before the construction was completed and the final report was made. The agreement was not terminated and the house had not been completed. The persecutor asked what prevented them from settling payments earlier. The thing is that construction is difficult work, much more difficult than sitting in the office. Therefore the State Construction Committee introduced a norm that after the house is completed the parties should make final calculations.

Andrei’s mother raised him by herself. Trying to ensure additional income she worked as a post woman distributing the paper “Vecherniy Minsk” as well as working in the militia. The majority of his mother’s salary was spent on medicine due to her battle with heart disease. Upon graduation from Lvov fire technical school, Andrei received a job assignment in the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Belarus. Though he graduated the school with all As, he started working in the most dangerous department – head of the fire unit. He was the first to fight fire and lead his colleagues. He entered Belarussian University Law Department and four years later he entered the Economic University and started doing business. “Vulgar thieves and ordinary criminals” criticized some officials for Klimov’s use of state companies (Department of Construction of Minsk City Executive Council) to build housing projects. “Ordinary criminals” vacation on warm beaches, buy villas in the West, and wear thick gold necklaces with crosses. “Ordinary criminals” do not give their companies their own names.

Andrei Klimov did not have a vacation for eight years. He worked endlessly but was never even able to buy a small house for himself yet alone a villa. He did not open businesses for prestige. His primary concern was his work. He employed people who shared his same attitude toward life and work. Only a responsible professional could build a block of flats on Lodochnaya Street. Now deputies who serve in the Chamber of Representatives live there.

On December 10, 1995 Klimov was elected Deputy of the 13th Supreme Council. He worked in the commission for economic policy and reform. He took an active part in initiating the impeachment procedure in November 1996. He sharply criticized President Lukashenko’s policies on many occasions. Criminal persecution against Deputy Andrei Klimov began after the 1996 referendum. Before that A. Lukashenko complimented Klimov, the businessman, for his work. On February 11, 1998 Klimov and his wife were arrested on the way to work without a sanction from the prosecutor. People in civil clothes pushed them into a car. He regularly came to the prosecutor’s office to be interrogated. He could have been arrested without harm, however the authorities wanted to humiliate him. The militia did not even inform Andrei’s mother about his arrest. In protest of such outrageous actions by the police, Klimov went on a dry hunger strike. He filed a complaint to the court of the Moscow district in Minsk to release him from prison. He attempted to give a written undertaking not to leave Minsk but the sitting of the Court was closed. Not even Klimov’s attorney was not allowed in the court room. Klimov’s right for legal defense was violated. His plea to change the detention regime was left unanswered.

The conditions of imprisonment were extremely harsh even for a Belarussian prison. The cell was 6 m2, intended to hold five people. There was only one, two-level bed and no place to sleep on the floor. The light was on 24 hours a day, the windows were closed and covered by blinds with no access to fresh air. The toilet and the sink were located in the cell and water was made available only for 1,5 – 2 hours a day and only at night.

Protesting against inhumane conditions, Klimov went on a second hunger strike. At the end of the strike he asked the prison authorities for an examination by a cardiologist. He was refused. Klimov was deprived of sleep during the night and when he was allowed to sleep during the day, it was only for short periods of time. This torture lasted for 2.5 months as later discovered by UN representatives. Klimov who was an absolutely healthy man prior to his imprisonment was put in the Republican prison hospital where he lost consciousness. In August 1998 the investigation team declined Klimov’s appeal to have a medical examination but finally granted the request in December 1998 after interference by the Helsinki Committee.

After Klimov’s arrest his family was harassed by investigators on several occasions. They were followed, bugged, provoked, and never granted permission to see Andrei. On September 18, 1998, Prosecutor Kuzhel (Head of the investigation department of the Ministry of Interior) sealed off the flat where Klimov’s wife and children lived in order to perform another search. The apartment was sealed for two weeks never allowing the family to gather fresh clothing or other personal articles.

Before the beginning of the court sitting, Klimov asked to put off the hearing as he had not completely read all the materials. Any expert can say that it is next to impossible to study 34 volumes, that is 16,000 pages, and make necessary notes in eight days.

The house was completed. Diplomats moved in and they decided to leave Klimov to rot in prison. When I look at the place in the basement where prisoners are kept, I remember the words of one Western politician who said, “Every century has its own middle ages”. Even after the dry hunger strike, when his wife wanted to pass him vitamins, the Head of the medical institution, Mekhedov, said that Klimov was well and healthy. Klimov was indeed healthy before his arrest, he did not go to a doctor for the last 8 years, he did not even have a medical card, and the medical military commission continued to claim that even after his stay at the prison he was still healthy. In fact only a healthy person can withstand a dry hunger strike. Klimov began to drink water only on the seventh day of the strike. How is Klimov today? Here is the main diagnosis from the Republican prison hospital he suffers from heart ischemia, stenocardia, and cardiosclerosis. An additional diagnosis shows intolerance to glucose and extensive dermatitis. Conclusion of the computer topography shows possible neuroinfection. Doctors think that these are consequences of cerebral hemorrhage, cranial injury, or brain concussion.

And he is still 34! Whom Klimov and his family should bring to court? Who is responsible for keeping a person with an ill heart in a stuffy basement where he was deprived of fresh air? Who will take responsibility for the prison where he was deprived of sleep, water, and air for 2,5 months? Who should be punished for sending Klimov back to prison after he was beaten severely on December 13, 1999 and was denied hospitalization despite the doctor’s request? He suffered until OSCE interfered. Evidently they waited till traces of beating disappeared. Only after demands of OSCE Klimov was sent to hospital.

I am not raising the issue of slander and blackmail. It is useless. I am not talking about all the humiliation that Andrei Klimov, his mother, and his family went through. It is too hard to talk about it. There will be time for it. It seems to me that all those people who jeered at Andrei and took away his health have forgotten two gospel truths, “You can not help slipping while walking on tears”. And the second “There is no hiding from Lord’s punishment”.

“Belorusskaya gazeta” № 8 February 28, 2000

Attorney Valery Yerchak: — While listening to the state prosecutor I thought, “If Andrei Klimov agreed to become a deputy of the Chamber of Representatives would this case be in court at all? No! It would not. This is the root of this case. But Klimov has a clean conscience and he is prosecuted for that. Arrange a political case but do not turn it into criminal anarchy!

This process is bad as it kills our statehood. Horrible things are going on Volodarskogo street (location of the prison): the average age of prisoners is 20. Crime is getting younger. Not because of bad upbringing but because young people have bad examples to follow: a policeman who commits a robbery, a president who does not care about upholding the Constitution, criminal law, or legislation all together. It is they who are corrupting our society.

I am 34. I think that I did not live my life in vain. Not a single voter in my constituency, even he who did not vote for me, cannot say that he is not proud to have such a deputy, who regardless of his personal interests and interests of his family, sacrificed the most precious thing – his freedom. I have done it for one thing – to keep my word: to be a honest person of integrity.

I can not but mention this, the tragedy of Alexander Grigoryevich is that I am here because of his initiative. He sets my term of imprisonment – not the court. The longer I stay in prison the bigger reproach it will be for his and the evidence of crimes of the authorities, their helplessness. The authorities can only crush a person, put him behind bars. Lukashenko tragedy is that first he got rid of the persons who are needed to defend sovereignty of Belarus. Secondly, he got rid of his potential opponents. Putin is a person who does not stand when he is not obeyed. Alexander Grigoryevich understands quite well that the source of threat for him is Russia. If we have Russian rubles tomorrow as our national currency nobody will be surprised that Lukashenko is gone. He will not be wanted in the Russian – Belarussian union.

Thank you everybody who supported me as obviously we will not have a chance to talk. I am not afraid of imprisonment. If there was no prison it should be invented. In fact it was prison that enabled me to understand that I have friends. There are people at my mother’s side who support her with kind words and come here. It means that I am a happy person.

Anybody can be jailed in our country. There will be time when the president will be judged. There is no hiding from history. Hitler and Stalin would have been judged but the former poisoned himself and the latter was poisoned. Pinochet was such a nice guy. He carried out economic reforms but remained a dictator. This regime will also fall. Well dear public prosecutor as I said earlier, your duty is to support the prosecution in the case. But this case is a little bit different. Consequences are horrible. The law has been violated. Look at these defendants. Not criminals but innocent people are under trial. Do you think that they and their children will support this power?

I know for sure why I have been kept in prison. Businessmen in Belarus are weak. Sometimes people degrade when they get into prison. I was expected to be the same. They did not expect my confession. How can I explain that the investigator did not ask me any question concerning the case? Why jeer at people? Do you need Klimov? Why did you turn my wife with a three-year-old kid out into the cold? It is because the whole case is tainted.

Attorney Olga Biryula: — This case is nothing but political persecution of Klimov for his popularity. The investigation was done unprofessionally and with many violations. After my client was rudely arrested in the street and imprisoned the process of consistent harassment began. There was one goal – to break the person. During the interrogation the prosecutor told Klimov, “There is no evidence against you yet but we will work hard and will not let you free just like that”.

Attorney Valentina Letun: — We have been living the lives of our clients all these seven months. The position of attorneys was united to take all legal measures to help the court to pass a just grounded verdict. From the point of view of defense the only just verdict is “not guilty” in all aspects of accusation. Maybe there is no choice. But I as a person who spent two years in prison and I can say that there is always a choice. Even if somebody is bringing a knife to your throat, there is a choice; either to give up or to hold out.

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