Cases of foreign travel restricted Hulak and Liabedzka to be considered on 16 and 17 July
The appeal of the head of the Belarusian Helsinki
Committee Aleh Hulak against the actions of the Ministry of Justice and the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, as a result of which he has been unlawfully put
on a list of persons subject to temporary foreign travel restrictions, will be
considered at 11 a.m.
on 16 July at the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk.
Bear in mind that on 13 March Mr. Hulak was issued with a note, according to
which he had been prohibited to leave Belarus since 5 March. A similar
note was issued to Hary Pahaniaila, the head of the juridical commission of the
BHC, who has been recently excluded from the list. Mr. Pahaniaila became the
first person who succeeded in defending his freedom of movement.
As it follows from the note, received by Mr. Hulak, a civil lawsuit against him
is pending at court. However, the human rights defender knew nothing about it,
and he wasn't informed about his inclusion in the blacklist by any courts.
Moreover, no information about this lawsuit against him has been given for the
last three months.
Several days after receiving the note Aleh Hulak lodged a lawsuit against the
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which unlawfully
limited his freedom of movement,
At first, the trial was appointed on 6 April, but then was postponed to an
unknown time due to the “business” of the judge. Meanwhile, the legal term for
considering such appeals is one month. The Tsentralny Court of Minsk appointed
the date of the hearings almost four months after the receipt of the appeal.
A similar lawsuit of the head of the United Civil Party Anatol Liabedzka will
be considered on 17 July. Mr. Liabedzka was detained by theBelarusian boarder
guards while leaving for Lithuania
on 7 March. They stated that he was put on the list of persons subject to
foreign travel restrictions.
He also applied to court, and the hearings were also appointed after more than
three months, also due to the “great load on the courts”.
Mr. Liabedzka commented: “The authorities are gradually losing their reason.
That what is happening cannot be explained neither from the juridical point of
view, nor from the position of common sense. This is an open discrimination of
citizens for their political views.”
