Baranavichy: human rights defender applies to Constitutional Court
Human rights defender Siarhei Housha
asks the court to initiate amendment of the Process-Executive Code
referring to his own experience.
Mr. Housha filed his
application to the Constitutional Court on 1 March. He asks the court
to consider the norm of the Process Executive Code of Administrative
Offenses (further referred to as PECAO) concerning the impossibility
of exemption from the court fee, as unlawful and incompatible with
the Constitution and the international legislation, and propose to
the Chamber of Representatives to consider the question of amending
the PECAO with the aim to guarantee the due protection of civil
rights and liberties at court.
In his letter Mr. Housha
informs the Constitutional Court and on 21 August a judge of the
Court of Baranavichy, Vasil Petryu, rejected his petition to be
exempted from the court fee. The judge explained the refusal by
saying that such possibility was not provided for in the PECAO.
As
a result, Mr. Housha was unable to file an appeal against a court
verdict due to the lack of finances. According to Siarhei Housha, the
right to court protection is guaranteed by Article 60 of the
Constitution. Art.2 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) obliges all state parties to provide
effective means of court defense to all persons whose rights are
violated.
Siarhei Housha believes that, with the view of the
aforementioned provisions of the Constitution and ICCPR, the state
must provide the means of court defense which would guarantee
effective protection of the violated rights and liberties.
According to Article 130 of the Civil Process Code of the
Republic of Belarus, the court or the judge have the right to fully
or partially exempt a citizen from paying the court fee. According to
Article 134, the payment of the fee can be delayed or payment in
installments can be allowed for the same reasons.
According to
Mr. Housha, the same possibilities are provided by Article 127 of the
Economic Process Code. Moreover, even in criminal proceedings
convicts can be freed from paying the process expenses which must be
paid by the state in this case (Article 163).
The human
rights defender considers the absence of a similar provision in the
PECAO as a defect and asks the competent authorities to correct it.
