The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

The administrative commission of the Leninski district executive committee fined Sviatlana Rudkouskaya, an independent election observer nominated to the Praletarskaya constituency #17 by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee.

Sviatlana has been Chairperson of building and loan association #8 for four years and hasn’t had any admonitions or even minor remarks concerning her work from the side of the Leninski district executive committee in Hrodna. Her troubles started after she was officially registered as an observer. On 3 March Barys Fiodarau, Chairperson of the Leninski DEC, sent her to Aliaksandr Arkhipau, Chairperson of the department of public services and amenities, who drew up a violation report because the territory adjacent to building and loan association #8 wasn’t cleaned from litter. As a result, the observer was fined 35,000 rubles (about $12).

Moreover, the following day she was summoned to the Leninski district executive committee, where Aliaksandr Arkhipau, Chairperson of the department of public services and amenities, threatened her with administrative prescriptions for alleged other violations, dismissal from her position and passing of her case to the procuracy.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections