Mazyr: UCP member appeals picket ban
A member of the United Civil Party Uladzimir Repka
wanted to hold a picket under the slogan “For honest elections without
Lukashenka” near the “IstPal” market on 15 May in order to draw public
attention to the absence of free and fair elections in Belarus.
On 26 June Judge of the Mazyr District Court N. Asadchaya turned down Repka’s
appeal against the picket ban, issued by the Mazyr District Executive
Committee.
According to the answer of the deputy head of the executive committee, Feliks
Haliuk, the reason for the ban was that the stated place belonged to the public
places which “provide the vital functions of the population”.
The authorities don’t struggle against the unlawful currency exchange and sale
of fruit and vegetables, there, but ban pickets.
“By sending me to the “Spartacus” stadium (located in the area of private
houses, surrounded with a high fence, tribunes and ditches, for holding a
picket with invitation of citizens (as it follows from the speech of the
representative of the district executive committee N. Rebert at court) I am
deliberately provoked to a law violation, as it will be another kind of mass
event – a rally,” says Uladzimir Repka.
The district court didn’t give a due assessment to this provocative provision
in ruling #1202 of the Mazyr District Executive Committee. The court also
didn’t give any explanations as to whether a letter signed by the deputy head
of the executive committee be considered as decision of the executive
committee, which is a collegial institution.
Uladzimir Repka hopes to get answers to these questions at a higher court.
“Mazyr Human Rights Chronicle”
