Court Dismisses Case on Suit of Expelled Student
The case on the suit of Yuras Aleinink is dismissed as “beyond the jurisdiction of the court”. Kastrychnitski court of Minsk Judge Sofia Prakapovich made that decision on July 5th.
The judge referred to the fact that the Statute of the Academy of Management did not entitle students to complain to court against expulsion. It should be pointed out that the judge made such a decision when practically all court procedures were over and the hearing was going to its end.
The plaintiff and his representatives strongly disagree with the court decision. BHC lawyer Aleh Hulak, public representative of Yuras Aleinik tild the Belarusian Association of Journalists: “In our opinion, during the hearing we arrived at the situation when the judge couldn’t help but satisfy the claim of the plaintiff. That is why she decided to dismiss the case altogether. This is illegal and unconstitutional. This is refusal of justice”.
“We think Yury Aleinik had the right to file a suit to the court. We will appeal against the decision to the higher court”, -- lawyer of the plaintiff Larysa Atamanchuk states.
The complaint may be filed during 10 days.
Yury Aleinik, a straight-A student of the Academy of Management under Auspices of the President of the Republic of Belarus, demanded to cancel the order of the rector about his expulsion. He wanted to be restored as a student of the 4th year and get an opportunity to pass exams for the last semester. Yuras Aleinik was expelled on May 15th for alleged “systematic violation of the discipline and the house rules”. He is accused of missing 22 academic hours of classes without any serious reasons in April. The former student claims he had serious grounds to miss the majority of the classes. During the hearing he presented a medical certificate of temporary disability from the student clinic; and a statement from his mother, who, because of the state of her health in April, needed Yury’s assistance in taking care of her younger son.
The plaintiff is convinced he has been expelled for “convictions and active position”. Yuras Aleinik is a member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, free-lance reporter of Nasha Niva, and chairman of Minsk regional organization of Belarusian Language Society. He also took part in many street protest actions and collected signatures against benefit cuts for students. His activism did not effect his studies: during the winter semester his GPA was 9.0 out of possible 10. Besides that, the analysis of the class registers leads to conclusion that many students who have missed more classes and have worse grades, continue their education without any problems.
