Homel: Administrative Case for ‘anti-Constitutional’ Leaflets Brought against UCP Activist

On 11 December in Homel people in mufti together with riot squad police detained a public activist Aliaksandr Karotchanka who was transporting several thousand of leaflets with address to the electorate on behalf of Uladzimir Katsora, chair of Homel regional organization of the United Civil Party. Mr. Karotchanka was escorted to Homel Chyhunachny borough police department, where the leaflets were confiscated. Then the police obtained a prosecutor’s warrant, searched the activist’s apartment and confiscated the hard drive from his computer. Aliaksandr Karotchanka is charged with distribution of leaflets of ‘anti-Constitutional nature’.

Uladzimir Katsora, whose leaflets Karotchanka transported, stated he hadn’t other ways for applying to his electors:

‘I wasn’t registered a candidate to Homel regional deputy soviet. Then I was a proxy to candidate Karniaienka, but even he wasn’t allowed to hold electoral meetings, neither indoors nor outdoors. Being his proxy I was detained several times. I couldn’t get to any of the electoral meetings that were held and couldn’t organize any such meetings on my own. That’s why I decided to address the electors directly and printed such leaflets,’ Katsora commented.

He also said he couldn’t find anything anti-Constitutional in his leaflets: ‘I draw here Lukashenka’s saying that he rigged the presidential election and a quotation from his speech in Loieu: ‘If you don’t want me to be a president any more, just say ‘Enough!'’ The police brought an administrative case against Uladzimir Katsora for production of the leaflets.