Candidate Tatsiana Kuushynava issued with a warning

The Minsk Savetski distict election commission issued a warning to Tatsiana Kuushynava, a candidate running at the Masherauskaya election constituency #47, for distribution of agitation materials without imprint.

Several days ago the appropriate decision was adopted at a sitting of the Minsk city territorial election commission. Two members of the commission, Siarhei Vazniak and Siarhei Alfer, expressed their disagreement with the decision and attached their separate opinion on this issue to minutes of the commission's sitting.

'There were some suspicions that the leaflets without imprint were distributed by a member of Kuushynava's initiative group,' said Siarhei Vazniak. 'The commission presented some incomprehensible information from the internet, though there is no direct evidence that the candidate has any relation to it. As a result, the warning was based on emotions of members of the commission, not on evidence and rational arguments.

Speaking in defense of Tatsiana Kuushynava, we tried to explain to other members of the commission that no warning can be issued if there is at least any doubt in a candidate's guilt. Anyway, I think that our opinion that was attached to the minutes of the sittings will have a moral impact and will make members of the commission to treat the legal norms more accurately and not to issue warnings their own way,' commented Mr. Vazniak.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections