Civil society activist in Mazyr warned by Prosecutor’s Office

Halina Herasimava, activist of the civil initiative against lawlessness in the courts and the prosecuting authorities, representing the NGO in the city of Mazyr (Homel region), received a verbal warning for participation in an unregistered public association from Deputy Prosecutor of Homel region Vadzim Sushchynski.

According to local lawyer Tamara Siarhei, the text of the warning was read to Mrs. Herasimava on May 20 by Head of Department of Law Enforcement and Crime Prevention of Mazyr district police department, Aliaksandr Bykau. The police chief also carried out a preventive conversation. Moreover, Aliaksandr Bykau stressed the fact that such actions impede the work of government institutions. However, this is not true, as people come to Minsk and assemble in the waiting room of an official only on the designated day for personal reception of citizens. Meanwhile, they are applying for a meeting in advance.

“I view the Prosecutor’s warning to Herasimava as another fact of psychological pressure on the citizens who are trying to protect their rights under Belarusian law. Halina Herasimava has been for eight years protecting the rights of her son Andree, who is serving a sentence in one of the prisons of Belarus and she cannot receive any specific answers to her questions in supervisory appeals to the bodies of the judiciary and the prosecuting authorities,” says Tamara Siarhei.

It should be noted that three activists of the civil initiative have already been summoned to law enforcement agencies since April 23. Two of them received warnings from prosecutors.