Baranavichy: prosecutor's office is required to discriminated in the case of the Milavidy festival
Baranavichy
human rights defenders and social activists are outraged at the
biased and hasty decision of Judge Katsiaryna Hruda. On 6 August they
filed a collective complaint to the prosecutor's office in the
administrative case of Viktar Syrytsa.
As we have already
reported, the activist was accused of preparing and holding an
unauthorized rally near the monuments in Milavidy on 2 June and was
sentenced to a fine of2 million rubles.
In the joint statement
to the prosecutor's office, signed by ten persons, it is stated that
the court twice returned the violation report, with which Viktar
Syrytsa strongly disagreed, back to the police, due to the discovered
defects. When the violation protocol was passed to the court for the
third time, Judge Katsiaryna Hruda, assigned to this case by the head
of the court, hastily issued an accusative verdict to Mr. Syrytsa
without discriminating in the circumstances of the case.
The
authors of the letter to the prosecutor's office write that they took
part in the trip to the Milavidy monuments on 2 July on invitation of
the state-owned newspaper "Nash Krai" and witnessed that no
official events announced by the newspaper were actually held at the
specified time, 12.30 a.m. on 2 June. They composed an appropriate
act about it, which was ignored by the court. It is also stated, that
though police major Vital Kuliashou and an officer of the Baranavichy
District Executive Committee Dz. Varvashenia were present in Milavidy
and knew that the official event was canceled, they didn't warn the
people about it. Therefore, the complainants inform the prosecutor
that they suffered not only a financial loss, but also felt cheated
and humiliated in Milavidy.
The complaint also notes that
Judge Katsiaryna Hruda pretended that she did not understand the
words of police major Kuliashou, who admitted in response to
questions of Syrytsa's councel, that there was no unauthorized rally
in Milavidy on 2 June. He also confirmed at court that there were no
violations of the public order and anti-state calls there.
The
authors of the complaint state that as soon as it became clear that
no official event would be held, Viktar Syrytsa said the present
people they could come to the monuments, lay down flowers, take
photos and then get on their bus and drive to the headquarters of the
Belarusian Language Society in the village of Rusiny in order to
celebrate the 150th anniversary of the battle of Milavidy there.
Therefore, the complainants ask the inter-district prosecutor
to check up the court materials and issue a protest against the hasty
and actually rigged and biased decision, which is not based on the
case materials.
A similar complaint was filed by Viktar
Syrytsa, who asks the prosecutor to draw to the legal account the
officials who staged this provocation, while he just organized the
trip of amateurs of history of culture to the Milavidy festival on
invitation of the state-owned newspaper.