Constitutional Court upholds the proposal of the Baranavichy human rights defender
Siarhei Housha in front of the Baranavichy City and District Court
The
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus supported the
Baranavichy human rights activist Siarhei Housha. This was stated in
a letter signed by the head of the secretariat A. Karavai, which the
activist received by mail on 8 October.
There it is reported
that at the suggestion of Siarhei Housha on 25 September the
Constitutional Court adopted a ruling “On establishing the
procedural order of exemption from the state fee for filing appeals
to courts against verdicts on cases of administrative
offenses".
Back on 1 March 2013 the human rights defender
Siarhei Housha filed a written appeal to the Constitutional Court. On
the basis of his own experience, he proposed the Constitutional Court
to recognize the provisions of the Process-Executive Code of
Administrative Offenses about the impossibility of exemption from the
state fee as unconstitutional and contrary to
international norms.
In his letter Siarhei
Housha informed the Constitutional
Court that he had been brought to administrative responsibility by a
ruling of Judge of the Baranavichy City and District Court Vasil
Petryu of 21 August 2012. Disagreeing with the
judge's decision, on 30
August 2012g the
human rights activist sent a complaint to the court and
applied for the exemption from the registration fee due
to a difficult
financial situation.
However, by the
ruling of Judge Vasil Petryu of 13 September 2013 Housha's petition
for the exemption of the registration fee was rejected due to the
fact that the Procedural- Executive Code of
Administrative Offences of the Republic of Belarus doesn't
provide the possibility of exemption from
payment of the state fee for
filing complaints against court rulings.
Thus,
the human rights activist drew the attention
of the Constitutional Court to the shortcoming in the legislation
which violates the constitutional right of
citizens to judicial protection, guaranteed by
Art. 60 of the Constitution and
Art. 2 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
which establishes an obligation of each State
party to the Covenant to provide each person whose rights or freedoms
are violated with an
effective remedy.
Siarhei
Housha reminded the Constitutional Court that,
according to the above mentioned provisions of
the Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the government should create such a remedy that
would ensure the effective protection of violated rights and freedoms
of the individual.
That's why Siarhei
Housha asked the Constitutional Court to make a proposal to the
House of Representatives of Belarus to
supplement the Procedural Executive Code of
Administrative Offences of Belarus in order to guarantee an
effective way to ensure the
judicial protection of rights and
freedoms.
On 25 September the
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus decided to propose to
the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus to prepare a
draft law on amending the Procedural- Executive Code of
Administrative Offences and submit it to the House of Representatives
of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus according
to the established order.
