Alina Suravets Applied Against Expellation from Smarhon District Deputy Soviet Session

On2 June Alina Suravets, Head of Smarhon district branch of Smarhon district branch of the PA “Belarusian Association of Journalists”, applied to Hrodna Regional Deputy Soviet and Smarhon District Prosecutor’s office with the demand to set aside the decision of Smarhon District Deputy Soviet of 25 June, by which she was dispelled from the hall of sittings as a journalist of “Novaya Gazeta Smorgoni” which Mikalay Shysh, the Soviet Head called an illegal edition.

In its suit Alina Suravets pointed out that this decision contradicted to a number of legislative norms, including Article No. 23 of the Constitution (permission to limit rights and liberties only in the cases, specified by the law, for interests of national security, public order, protection of morality, health of the population, rights and liberties of other individuals); Article No. 16 of the Law “About local government and self-government” (openness and publicity for sessions of Soviets); Article No. 39 of the Law “About press and other mass media” (the right of journalist to attend places of publicly important events and pass information from them).

At the same time, Ramuald Ulan, founder of “Novaya Gazeta Smorgoni” applied to the prosecutor’s office with the demand to criminally punish Mikalay Shysh for slander, because the newspaper was issued legally.

Ales Dzerhachow, Smarhon, Telephone No. 2-21-52