Salihorsk human rights defender keeps opposing illegal travel ban threats

In a dispute between the local representative of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Leanid Markhotka, and the Communal Unitary Enterprise "Cash Settlements Centre of the City of Salihorsk" the Prosecutor's Office of Minsk region sided with the state-owned enterprise.

The human rights defender says the decision of the Prosecutor's Office is totally wrong. According to him, the Prosecutor's Office of Minsk region, as well as Salihorsk District Prosecutor's Office earlier, instead of reacting to the fact reported in the complaint, started explaining the essence of a number of provisions of the Law "On the Procedure for Exit from the Republic of Belarus."

“The Devil, as they say, is in the details. The essence of the conflict, to put it mildly, is in the badly formulated ads distributed by the payment processing center. But the deputy prosecutor of Minsk region, Mr. Piatrouski, instead of responding to these illegal threats from the state institution, invented for them another euphemism. Now this is called a "preventive measure for all taxpayers." His colleagues at Salihorsk District Prosecutor's Office called the unlawful intimidation of citizens “an advertisement of information and preventive nature in simplified form," says Leanid Markhotka.

Although the new utility bills have no illegal ads, the human rights activist is going to bring the started dispute to an end. In the near future, Leanid Markhotka plans to appeal the decision of the Prosecutor's Office of Minsk region in the General Prosecutor's Office.