Mahiliou Regional Court upholds KGB’s supervision over BCD activist

The Court of Mahiliou Region dismissed today a complaint lodged by Aleh Aksionau, local activist of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, to demand the cancellation of supervision measures imposed on him by the KGB. The activist says he is preparing a complaint to the President of the Regional Court.

“I will keep demanding to be removed from the KGB’s preventive supervision register, where I was put for ridiculous reasons by the staff of the State Security Committee. I will appeal the decision of the local courts at the Supreme Court,” says Aleh Aksionau.

Local human rights defender Barys Bukhel says the court sitting lasted half an hour and as a result Judge Sviatlana Stalmakhova said the earlier decision by Judge Yurchanka of Mahiliou Leninski District Court was legal. However, the Judge failed to specify the reasons for the dismissal.

“There are at least a dozen reasons to state that the application of the KGB’s supervision is illegal. However, the most important of them is the fact that the KGB has gone beyond its powers and all the investigative materials in so called “Aksionau’s case” were obtained illegally. As illegal is Article 193.1 of the Criminal Code, which provides for responsibility for activities on behalf of an unregistered organization or party,” says Barys Bukhel.

On October 22, 2012 Aleh Aksionau was summoned by cell phone for a conversation to the KGB department. There he was told that he was put on preventive register. The reason for this was his activities as an activist on behalf of an unregistered organization – the party “Belarusian Christian Democracy”. During his visit to the KGB, Aleh Aksionau did not sign any papers.

Besides Aleh Aksionau, two more Mahiliou activists are under the KGB’s preventive supervision – Zmitser Salauyou, head of the city office of the Belarusian Popular Front “Adradzhenne”, and Tatsiana Shambalava, local leader of the organizing committee of the Belarusian Christian Democracy.