Valiantsin Stefanovich’s lawsuit to be considered on 16 July

Human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovich has finally received a summons to court. The case will be considered by Judge Alena Siamak – she protracted the appointment of the trial for more than four months, though the legal term for considering lawsuits is just one month.

 The reason is that the judge and the court secretary are on vacations till 14 July. Mr. Stefanovich’s lawsuit concerned the unlawful inclusion of his surname into the database of the people who are temporary prohibited to travel abroad. The Department of Citizenship and Migration has already admitted its mistake, referring to a technical failure. However, it was stated that he would be unable to leave Belarus until the end of an appropriate check-up.

The human rights defender has also applied to the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice and the Presidential Administration with the request to start disciplinary proceedings towards Judge Siamak. At present Valiantsin Stefanovich is waiting for an answer to these addresses.

The appeal against the unlawful inclusion of Mr. Stefanovich in the black list will be considered at 4.30 p.m. on 16 July. It’s quite interesting that the same day Judge Siamak will consider the appeal of the head of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Aleh Hulak, who was also introduced into the database.

Bear in mind that Valiantsin Stefanovich had been stopped at the border crossing point “Kamenny Loh” on 11 March and was told that he was prohibited to leave the territory of the Republic of Belarus, as his surname was in the database of those subject to foreign travel restrictions.