Election officials order to destroy BPF candidate’s leaflets

A BPF candidate Illia Dabratvor has received a decision from Minsk’s Zavodskaya District Election Commission issuing a warning, after the election officials saw signs of incitement to ethnic hatred between Russians and Belarusians in the candidate’s election leaflets. The back side of the leaflets had information about political prisoners, which was viewed as slandering officials.

The Commission notes that Illia Dabratvor’s campaign materials do not contain the program of his future activities. Election officials also argue that they have supposedly received disturbing calls from voters who demanded to ban Illia Dabratvor’s posters reading "Freedom to Political Prisoners" and "Yes to People’s Referendum".

The Commission also ordered the destruction of all campaign materials. If Illia Dabratvor fails to meet the demands, the commission threatens to deprive him of a candidate’s registration.

Illia Dabratvor has sent a complaint to the Minsk City Election Commission, asking to cancel the decision of the district commission and return his campaign products. The candidate points out that he did not violate the law, but the members of the district election commission’s findings were arbitrary and biased, as they are not based on experts’ conclusions.

"Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections"