Mahiliou coordinator of independent observation campaign fined

Judge Aksana Ratnikava of Mahiliou Leninski District Court has fined Yury Novikau, regional coordinator of the “For Free Elections 2012” observation campaign, 4 mln. rubles for distributing products with the campaign’s logo, including observers’ notebooks, guidelines and election newsletters.

The products seized from Yury Novikau’s car on 23 August will be destroyed, as ordered by the court.

The activist says he is going to appeal the verdict.

According to human rights defender Barys Bukhel, the Judge issued a deliberately incompetent decision, as blank notebooks could not be considered as printed mass media. The same applies to the guidelines, says the human rights defender.

“It is absolutely clear that the decision is politically motivated. It is aimed at undermining the independent observation campaign in the region,” says Barys Bukhel.

“Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”