Human rights activist began battle with Customs Committee
Leanid Sudalenka
May 24, Ašmiany Customs conducted a personal search of human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka at the checkpoint "Kamienny Loh" Ašmiany Customs and seized from him his laptop and printed media. Today, July 6, 2015, Mr. Sudalenka appealed to Ašmiany District Court.
All earlier attempts of the human rights defender to draw the attention of customs officers to violation of his rights yielded no result. Deputy head of the customs committee Uladzimir Arlou sent Mr. Sudalenka to court.
"Personal customs inspection is an exceptional form of customs control, which is carried out when there are sufficient grounds to believe that an individual who passes through the customs border, and is located in the customs control zone, is concealing and refuses to voluntary give goods transported in violation of the customs legislation of the Customs Union (Article 117 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union). In my case, customs officials could not explain to me the reason why they thought that I could hide or traffic goods in violation of customs laws", complained to the court L. Sudalenka.
In his appeal the human rights activist also points at the systemic violation of his rights by Ašmiany customs. In particular, he attached the text of the decision of the UN Committee on Human Rights №2114 / 2011 (Sudalenka vs. Belarus) regarding the confiscation of printed products by Ašmiany customs on the eve of the presidential elections in 2010. In this case, international experts established a violation of his rights to freedom of receipt and dissemination of information, obliging Belarus to prevent similar violations in the future.
Leanid Sudalenka asks the court to recognize the actions of Ašmiany customs to seize his personal property in the form of a laptop and printed products illegal and oblige the customs office to eliminate the violation by returning the laptop and printed materials.
