Vileika: Zmitser Vinahradau submits complaint to CEC

29.07.2008. Tags: elections-2008, Vileika.

On July 26th head of the regional BPF branch Zmitser Vinahradau filed a complaint to CEC about the decision of Vileika district election commission # 64. On July 24th the commission denied registration to his initiative group. The reason for denial was a statement from one of his team members that he had been included in the team against his will. According to head of Vinahradau’s initiative group the statement was written under pressure of the local “vertical”.

The commission made the decision in the morning. Vinahradau still had time to apply again before the deadline at 7 p.m. that day. On his way to Miadzel he was detained by road police. The police officers claimed that his car was on the list of the stolen vehicles and took him to the police station. They kept Vinahradau for several hours leaving him no chance to submit the application again.

Vinahradau says: I saw it was morally difficult for the police officers to detain me. That was not their initiative. That was the idea of the executive committee. This is not the first time the executive committee acts against me. Earlier they tried to discredit my activity in the Catholic Church.

Vinahradau also complained to the Central Election Commission about creation of obstacles for submitting application for registration of the initiative group. In his complaint Vinahradau asks CEC to oblige the district election commission to register his initiative group. According to Zmitser, he heard the following in the CEC: “The President said not to hinder anyone, and not to interfere with anyone, what are they doing there?”

Zmitser Vinahradau says: “Even if they don’t register me, I will continue to work. I will collect signatures on local issues, and will talk to people about how I was removed from the race. The executive committee is afraid to give me a chance in the election because they know people would support me and BPF Party”.

It’s worth mentioning that another application for registration of the initiative group was submitted in the afternoon of July 24th without any obstacles. The group will collect signatures for Yauheny Sapiolkin, head of the directorate for science and innovation of the Belarusian Council of Ministers.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections