Salihorsk police continue violating law on fingerprinting
Salihorsk-based civil activist Aliaksei Valabuyeu
received a telephone call to his mobile. A police inspector told him to come
for fingerprinting. Aliaksei refused, as he had been fingerprinted before.
He also told the policeman that he could come to them only after receiving an
official summon.
As said by a member of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Leanid Markhotka, the
law on dactilography is still violated by the police all over the country – as
the fingerprinting of the people who are liable for military service doesn't
belong to the scope of powers or duties of the police. The law also doesn't
give them the powers to summon people to police by telephone calls, or issue
summons for fingerprinting to draftees.
Nevertheless, there have been registered a number of cases when people were
punished for “insubordination to the police” (Article 23.4 of the Code of
Administrative Offenses) for refusal to be fingerprinted.
