Mahiliou Regional Court turned down complaint of Mahiliou regional organization of BPF ‘Adradzhenne’
On 6 October the Mahiliou Regional Court considered the complaint against the non-inclusion of the representatives from the NGO BPF Adradzhenne Siarhei Famin to the Mahiliou Regional Election Commission. Judge Sviatlana Stelmahava left standing the decision of the joint sitting of the Mahiliou Regional Executive Committee and the Presidium of the Mahiliou Regional Council of Deputies. The court verdict is not appealable.
The BPF activists used the assistance of human rights defenders to appeal the non-inclusion of their representative in the commission. They demanded to abolish the decision about the formation of the commission and include their representative in it, and also to pass to the court all materials that had been considered and adopted by the organizational and personnel department of the Mahiliou Regional Executive Committee during the preparation of the draft decision about the formation of the Mahiliou Regional Election Commisson, as well as the minutes of the joint sitting on formation of this commission.
The judge said that the formation of the election commission was legitimate, because the Electoral Code contains no criteria for choice of the commission members, that’s why it was up to the authorities to decide who to include in the commission.
The human rights defender Barys Bukhel notes that the hearing was also attended by representatives of the Mahiliou Regional Executive Committee and the Presidium of the Mahiliou Regional Council of Deputies.
’As it became known during the court debates,’ said Mr. Bukhel, ‘the commission that formed the election commission consisted of 3-4 officers of the regional executive committee and the presidium of the regional council of deputies. The member of the Presidium who attended the trial said that five minutes was enough for him to familiarize with the list of the candidates to the commission.’
A similar trial was scheduled for 7 October. This time, the non-inclusion of a representative in the regional election commission will be appealed by the Belarusian Leftist Party Fair World. The human rights defenders predict a similar outcome for this trial.
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections
