Mahiliou Regional Prosecutor’s Office says candidate’s detention legal

Valery Karankevich, former candidate for the Mahiliou Regional Council of Deputies in Khotsimsk constituency No. 54 and a candidate for the District Council of Khotsimsk in constituency No. 13, received on July 26 from the Mahiliou Regional Prosecutor’s Office a reply to his complaint against the officers of Khotsimsk police department and the Prosecutor of Khotsimsk district.

The letter signed by the first deputy prosecutor of the Mahiliou region Aleh Pimashkou says that the complaint was considered together with other complaints sent by Valery Karankevich to the Prosecutors of Khotsimsk district and Mahiliou region. As a result, first deputy prosecutor of the Mahiliou region came to the conclusion that there were no reasons for applying actions of prosecutorial supervision.

Prosecutor Pimashkou also said that if Valery Karankevich disagreed with the decision he might appeal against it to the Prosecutor of Mahiliou region.

Valery Karankevich says that he will certainly appeal against the decision.

“It’s just some kind of circus,” says the former candidate. “Employees of the Khotsimsk police department detained me without any reasons during the 2012 parliamentary elections and in the local elections this year, and prosecutors kept saying that their actions were legal. I think that all this is aimed at intimidating the activists and assure police officers of their impunity, because next year we will have presidential elections. I will definitely appeal against the response of the Mahiliou Regional Prosecutor, I have already contacted Mahiliou human rights defenders with a request to assist me in this matter.”

Earlier, on June 3, Mahiliou region Deputy Prosecutor Silvanovich told Valery Karankevich that his appeal against a decision of the Khotsimsk District Prosecutor’s office was considered under supervisory proceedings. “It is established that a decision on your petition was taken by the Khotsimsk District Prosecutor’s Office based on incompletely investigated circumstances of the incident, and therefore the materials have been forwarded for additional checks to the Prosecutor of Khotsimsk district. The results and the decision taken will be notified by the District Prosecutor. For inadequate consideration of the petition, Assistant Prosecutor of Khotsimsk district Belavusau will be deprived of bonuses for May 2014,” wrote the Deputy Prosecutor to Valery Karankevich.

Prior to that, Valery Karankevich wrote to the Prosecutor of Khotsimsk district asking him to conduct verification of the circumstances of his detention without charges by Khotsimsk police officers at the polling station on election day on March 23 and to investigate these violations and bring the perpetrators to justice.

In response to a complaint by the former candidate, then Prosecutor of Khotsimsk District I. Savastseyeu wrote that “the actions of the police department of Khotsimsk are competent and do not contradict the current legislation”.

On June 18, 2014, Valery Karankevich received a response from the Prosecutor of Khotsimsk district Iryna Khuchava, who said that the District Prosecutor’s Office had carried out an investigation and that the actions of the police officers who on March 23, 2014 detained candidate Valery Karankevich at the entrance to polling station No. 3 in Khotsimsk “are legitimate and do not contradict the current legislation, in connection with which the investigation on your complaint has been dismissed”.

On March 23, Valery Karankevich was detained by the police at polling station No. 3 in Khotsimsk. The candidate for deputy was taken to the police station, where he was held for about 40 minutes without charges and then released. The candidate was detained as a result of an urgent statement allegedly submitted by a member of the district election commission in constituency No. 54 Mikalai Tamashou. Due to the illegal detention, Valery Karankevich could not be present at the counting of ballots.

Valery Karankevich is a member of the BPF Party, he also collaborates with Tell the Truth campaign.