Head of Education Department of Shchuchyn Town Executive Committee Confesses Hindrance with Pre-Electoral Activity of His Subordinates

In the beginning of August the members of the initiative group of Aliaksandr Milinkevich Andrey Kusialchuk, Vasil Biazmen and Piatro Kukharchyk applied to the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Belarus, Hrodna Regional Prosecutor’s Office and Hrodna Regional KGB Board with the request to give evaluation to actions of the education department of Shchuchyn Town Executive Committee (TEC) Uladzimir Dubok.

In their application they mentioned that on Dubok’s order the director of Bertshaw secondary school proposed to teacher of this school Maryia Budzko to refuse from participation in the electoral campaign of Aliaksandr Milinkevich. She also said that the head of the education department would fire her if she didn’t obey. Uladzimir Dubok warned that KGB began to pay interest to the teacher. The applicants expressed their concern that such actions of the head of the education department made them doubt in objective holding of electoral campaign.

At Shchuchyn District Prosecutor’s Office Uladzimir Dubok confessed that he had a personal meeting with director of Bertshaw school and said that there was no need to drag the pedagogical collective into political squabbles. The school director confessed the fact of the talk as well. According to her, Uladzimir Dubok warned the pedagogical collective against participation in any kind of pre-electoral activity and agitation. She also confessed that the same day she phoned the teacher Maryia Budzko, who was a member of the initiative group of Aliaksandr Milinkevich and proposed to her “not to deal with political activity”.

In his answer to the member of the initiative group prosecutor H. Dysko said that neither the head of the education department nor the school director confessed having intimidated Maryia Budzko with KGB and pressurized her. Being guided by the testimonies of the head of the education department and the school director, the prosecutor’s office decided that there was no corpus delicti, described in article 191 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (hindrance to holding of pre-electoral agitation by citizen of the Republic of Belarus) in their actions.

Ivan Pawlionak