Aleh Volchak addresses UN Human Rights Committee in connection with arrests
The
head of the human rights center "Legal Assistance to the
Population" Aleh Volchak applied to the UN Human Rights
Committee with a complaint in which he lists the facts of systemic
violation of the civil rights to freedom and personal immunity, as
well as the use of politically motivated adverse discrimination.
The
complaint was prepared with the assistance of Leanid Sudalenka.
According to him, in this complaint Mr. Volchak states that at
present the Belarusian police often charge innocent people with the
use of obscene language and give false testimonies at court, as a
result of which the defendants are sentenced to arrest. Such things
often happen on the eve of important political events, or when it
becomes necessary to isolate citizens from the society.
"On
30 January 2012 the court sentenced me to 4 days of arrest. The false
testimony against me was given by the police officer Aliaksandr
Shakhlai and the inspector of the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk
Aliaksei Liavoshka. These policemen stated that I suddenly started
using obscene expressions before the eyes of passers-by, waved my
hands and shouted loudly, not reacting to their remarks," points
Mr. Volchak.
According to him, on 24 May the police officers
Dzmitry Tukaila and Aliaksandr Kanin also charged him with the use of
obscene language. They also gave false testimonies at court, as a
result of which the human rights defender was sentenced to 9 days of
arrest.
The first imprisonment was conducted to prevent him
from receiving some documents which witnessed the political
motivation of a celebrated criminal case. The second one was
connected with Volchak's intention to take part in the international
conferences in the US and the UK concerning the modernization of the
judicial system in Belarus.
