AUTHORITIES CONTINUE TO PUT PRESSURE ON LOCAL CANDIDATES. VIASNA MEMBER ALES KAPUTSKI FACES CRIMINAL CHARGES
Maladechna city commission decided to prolong the registration term of Viasna member Ales Kaputski as a candidate for Maladechna city council. Such decision was taken because Kaputski's application documents "raise doubts on the ground of visual examination". The commission addressed the state bodies, asking to check-up the data, declared in the documents.
On 28 January Ales Kaputski received a letter from Maladechna Inspection of the Ministry for Taxes and Dues. The letter says, according to Art 3 of the Presidential Decree, dated 12 February 1997, he is obliged to file in the declaration of his income for 2000-2002. The Inspection had questions about a house, Ales Kaputski bought in 2002. Kaputski gave written explanation note to T. U. Herko, head of the Inspection department for control of individual persons' income declarations. Herko was interested, with what means Kaputski paid for the house and his telephone bills. Kaputski pointed out that her actions were illegal. According to Art 2.1 of the Presidential Decree #2, dated 12 February 1997, individual persons should declare income in money or natural terms, received during one calendar year. Besides that, according to Art 5 of the same Decree, an income declaration is not needed for making deals, connected with building, reconstruction, or buying living-quarters.
Thus, the Inspection illegally demands from Ales Kaputski to declare his income for 2 years. It is equally illegal to ask questions about the origin of the money he spent for buying the house. At the same time Herko threatened Kaputski, that she would demand income declarations from all members of his family and relatives, and initiate criminal proceedings against him.
Human Rights Center "Viasna" considers these facts as pressure of the state bodies, connected with active public and political position of the member of our organization, as an attempt to persecute Kaputski in connection with his pre-election activities in Maladechna.
