Slonim: BCD activist gets warned

February 14 Slonim District Election Commission issued a warning to member of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Barys Kuchynski for a picket, which he held with his colleagues on February 8. At the commission he was told that the commission had received the appropriate materials from the police. However, no policemen were present at the picket.

On February 8, signatures were collected for nomination of Barys Kuchynski as a candidate. At the same time, members of the Slonim organization of the BCD handed out newsletters "Za siameinyia kashtounastsi" (“For Family Values”), in which it was reported that the BCD seeks to create a political environment in which the welfare of the individual and family comes first. Also, during the picket the activists collected signatures under the petition titled "Let's protect our children from alcoholism" and the appeal to the Department of Corrections Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Mahiliou region requiring an inspection of the prison conditions in which political prisoner Yauhen Vaskovich is kept.

At the election commission Mr. Kuchynski and his representative Ivan Bedka explained that the materials for the family values didn't contain any canvassing. Despite these explanations, the commission member Henadz Nazarenka stated that it was not a picket, but a rally, and insisted on issuing a more severe punishment than a warning. Commission Chairperson Alena Machalina
read to the commission members paragraph 13 of Regulation No. 27 of the Central Election Commission for December 17, on the basis of which the Commission unanimously announced a warning for allegedly illegal distribution of informational materials.

"Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections"