A court in Belarus sentenced Moscow lymphologist Vyacheslav Spiridonov to three years in prison because of a bag of decorative hemp bought in a souvenir shop in Milan. Vyacheslav Spiridonov and his companions went to that store when they were on a car trip to Europe in October 2019. He assured us that they bought a bag “for fun”, to show it to friends later.
According to RT, Dmitry Sudakov, a friend of Vyacheslav, who was with him at the time of Spiridonov’s detention on the border of Belarus, on the package of hemp from Italy it was written that its contents are legal, not a narcotic substance, since it contains only a small amount of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol - a component of marijuana , which has a psychotropic effect) and cannot lead to drug intoxication when consumed.
On October 31, the Russians completed their European auto tour and were planning to enter Belarus in order to return to Russia through its territory. At the border crossing, their car was stopped by border guards. At that moment, the men did not even remember the souvenir bag from Milan. According to Dmitry Sudakov, they were absolutely sure that there would be no problems due to the souvenir.
“We bought a bag to show our friends in Moscow. The THC content there was less than 0.2%, - said Dmitry. “This is a completely microscopic dose, and in order to get some kind of narcotic effect from it, you need to eat a kilogram of this herb, probably.”
Detention Violations
Vyacheslav and two of his companions were detained. At first, according to Sudakov, Belarusian border guards said that they would be released the next day.
Moreover, investigative actions were already underway. The man claims that no protocols on detention and acts on the seizure of material evidence were drawn up - and this is a gross violation.
“It was illegal to use this very bag as a material evidence and to present it later at the trial, because there is no act of seizure, no protocol,” Dmitry explained.
According to him, the employees of the Belarusian border service deliberately misled the Russians, not telling about the beginning of the investigative actions, so that the detainees would not demand to call a lawyer. Only during the interrogation, which was also carried out without a protocol, did Vyacheslav and his comrades finally understand how serious this was.
“Vyacheslav was sent to a temporary detention center, and then to a pre-trial detention center. I could not talk to my husband - in Belarus only correspondence is permissible with prisoners. The answers from the pre-trial detention center go very long. For six months now, I have not had a normal relationship with my husband, ”says Ekaterina Spiridonova’s wife.
Examination, court and sentence
The substance seized from Vyacheslav was sent for examination - the contents of THC were found in it. This expert was enough - the study did not even indicate what the concentration of THC in the studied sample was. Belarusian legislation does not provide for such a thing as “the minimum allowable amount of narcotic substances” - that is, the punishment does not depend on the weight or concentration of the drug in the seized substance. At the same time, in an interview with RT, Dmitry emphasized that various cannabis products are freely sold in Belarusian supermarkets.
“Our examination, which was done by an independent expert, indicates that it is impossible to remove TGCs by 100% from any hemp,” Sudakov explains. - That is, hemp and its products, freely sold in Belarus, contain THC in the same way, but they are not prosecuted for this, and my friend will be sent to prison for three years for the same microscopic dose as in legal products from hemp. "
According to Sudakov, an independent specialist, brought in by the defense, found a total of 15 violations in the investigation of hemp seized from Vyacheslav. For example, in the analysis, the expert took ten times more hemp and ten times less solution than prescribed by the technique. Dmitry emphasizes that this could be done in order to find at least the minimum content of TGKs - in order to bring the accused to the necessary article of the Criminal Code.
“In court, the expert bluntly stated that he would use any method if only in this grass to find at least some content of THC. Despite this, the court did not consider it necessary to request an additional examination, ”said the man.
Appeal Results
In January, a court in Brest sentenced Vyacheslav to three years in prison, convicted of smuggling and possession of drugs. The defense appealed against this decision. Consideration of the appeal took two days - March 27 and 31. Unfortunately, Spiridonov’s lawyer was unable to provide RT with any comments regarding the appeal and the process itself, referring to the strict non-disclosure rules in force in Belarus.
- © Photo from the personal archive
Yekaterina Spiridonova, referring to a lawyer, said that during the trial of her husband, the court committed a huge number of violations and “proceeded from the current system, in which, if a person went to prison, he remained there.”
“The lawyer is convinced that Vyacheslav should have been released altogether, since there is not even a corpus delicti,” said Catherine.
She specially arrived from Moscow to appeal the verdict. Ekaterina is a pediatric resuscitation doctor who saves premature babies in the maternity ward of a Moscow hospital. After returning from Belarus, a woman is required to observe two-week quarantine, now she cannot work. But Catherine returned to Moscow, without having learned the decision on the appeal - the court took a week to reflect.
“The appeal went terribly. Usually decisions are made on the same day. Since we have strong protection, it was just funny to look at the faces of the judges in the college, it feels like they are ashamed of what they did. After all, the consul is sitting at the meeting, a respected person, reporters are sitting, ”Dmitry Sudakov is indignant.
According to him, one of the claims of the defense to the decision of the court of first instance was the use of a normative act that expired in 2017.
“At the trial, when we read the comments of our lawyer on eight sheets, the judge did not read out the second paragraph, which was very important for the defense. As a result, the lawyer read it out himself - the point was that the trial court was based on a normative act that was outdated in 2017, ”Dmitry emphasizes.
Nevertheless, the court decision was left practically unchanged. The only thing that was changed in the verdict was the removal of the confiscation of Dmitry’s car, on which the man tried to cross the Belarusian border when he was detained.
Three years in a Belarusian colony
In Russia, not only his wife and five-year-old son are waiting for Spiridonov, but also patients. Vyacheslav is a lymphologist, his clinic uses a unique technique to help people suffering from a very rare disease.
“It is worth noting that Vyacheslav and his clinic worked a lot with the Belarusian Ministry of Health, as he trained medical specialists in Belarus on his methodology. Now Vyacheslav’s clinic is on the verge of closure: employees are leaving from there, huge debts and loans, ”says Dmitry Sudakov.
- © Photo from the personal archive
Spiridonov's wife Ekaterina claims that her husband never used any drugs, he did a lot of sports. His arrest and prosecution dealt a severe blow to the whole family.
“It’s hard now in all aspects: my husband is my absolute support. I had to take care of all the financial matters. But the hardest thing, of course, was with his son - he and his father were always very close. My son is five years old, the word "prison", of course, is not pronounced, but I said that papa is in Belarus. The son sometimes hears, for example, a song that he and dad listened to together, begins to be sad, ”says Catherine.
A woman is worried about the conditions under which her husband will be kept in a Belarusian colony. According to her, there is a way to transfer Vyacheslav from the Belarusian to the Russian colony, but this is a lengthy procedure, and due to the situation with the coronavirus, it can be delayed for an indefinite period.
“When I saw my husband for the first time on a date, he looked very bad,” says Catherine. - I ask: why are you so pale? It turns out that it’s hard to walk there, they release him very rarely, now they don’t let him out because of the coronavirus, they didn’t bring him to the last court session either. But he claims that he’s actually doing well, he’s not complaining about anything - he doesn’t want me to worry. ”
Spiridonov's friends published a petition in his support demanding the release of a Moscow doctor. At the time of publication, she collected more than 700 signatures.