Mahiliou opposition activist faces eviction

Mikalai Zalozny, an activist of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada), received a summons from Leninski District Court, saying that on 24 October, 2013 Judge Yulia Trapynina will consider eviction of the activist from the hostel he currently lives in without being given alternative accommodation.

The trial was initiated by the state-owned municipal housing department where Mikalai Zalozny previously worked as a plumber. At the time he was given a room in a dormitory.

The activist was fired for his political activities more than a year ago. He then sued his employer for the right to regain the job, but lost all the trials.

Then came two more trials after head of Mahiliou dormitories Pavel Shyshou when commenting the eviction of Mikalai Zalozny from the dormitory in an interview with BelaPAN correspondent Ales Asiptsou called the Belarusian Social Democratic Party a “gang”, literally saying, “He is a member of the gang Hramada.”

In court Shyshou said that he did not call the party a gang, the voice on the recording was not his and all this was fake. Judge Andrei Yurchanka took the side of the official, rejecting the activist’s motion for an examination of the interview recording.

After all the trials were over, Pavel Shyshou resumed the eviction process.

“It is impossible to find justice through the court system, everything is under control. Shyshou knows all the judges, prosecutors and other officials. His son also works in the police. I have collected 50 pages of materials, which contain facts of abuse of his official position and corruption. I sent all that to various state regulatory agencies. The Prosecutor's Office first said that Shyshou would go to prison for a long term, but then the man to whom I had passed the documents phoned back and said that the there had been an order from above forbidding to proceed with the case. In addition, during the year I haven’t been contacted by the police, prosecutors and the KGB,” says Mikalai Zalozny.

Meanwhile, Hramada’s activist says he has no other place of residence.