Activist in Khotsimsk complains against police officers

Valery Karankevich, an opposition activist from the town of Khotsimsk, has sent a complaint to the Minister of Internal Affairs asking the official to inform him about the results of an official investigation into the work of the district police department and the Mahiliou regional police department. The probe was expected to highlight a number of violations committed by them in the conduct of administrative proceedings in a slander lawsuit he lodged after a series of publications on an Internet resource voskresinfo.com.

The lawsuit was filed back in May, but the staff of the Mahiliou police department have not been able to find the online detractors.

In June, Valery Karankevich was forced to appeal to the Minister of the Interior asking him to conduct an investigation to identify the perpetrators of the insults and slander against him, to bring them to justice according to the law and to give him a written response within the statutory period, as employees of the police departments of Mahiliou region and Khotsimsk could not do it and actually admitted their helplessness.

The response from the Ministry signed by Acting Chief of the law enforcement and prevention department Karazei says the period of two months for imposing an administrative penalty under Art. 9.3 (slander) has expired, which is the basis for the termination of the administrative proceedings.

However, the official told Valery Karankevich that employees of Khotsimsk police department and the police department of the Mahiliou Regional Executive Committee made some irregularities when considering his complaint. Mr. Karankevich is expected to be informed about the results of the official investigation later.

The activist claims that he never received the results of the official investigation, and urges the Minister to inform why it happened, as well as to bring the perpetrators to justice.