The Disciplinary Commission of Minsk City Bar Association decided to deprive
Uladzimir Sozonchuk, the lawyer who had taken up the defence of Belsat journalist
Katsyaryna Andreyeva, blogger
Mikalai Statkevich, of his license.
In an interview with
Charter97.org, Uladzimir Sozonchuk says he does not regret his decision to defend political prisoners:
- As they say: who else if not me? It sounds a little pompous, but I can say it. On the other hand, I defended presidential candidate Dzmitry Uss in 2010. He was tried together with Statkevich. For some reason, they did not disbar me then.
Everyone has the right to defence. It is twice as pleasant to defend like-minded people whose actions do not involve any crime. I need to pursue justice.