Shklou District Election Commission deceives Ryhor Kastusiou
Skhlou district newspaper "Udarny Front" for March 12 failed to publish the information on the criminal records of candidates for deputies of the Shklou District Council.
Meanwhile, in his written response to the appeal of Deputy Chair of the Belarusian Popular Front R. Kastusiou appeal to the Shklou District Prosecutor's Office, Chairman of the Shklou District Election Commission R. Hurynau assured the applicant that "the data on criminal records of candidates for deputies of the Shlou District Council will published in the local newspaper "Udarny Front" for March 12".
March 12, 2014, Mr. Kastisiou filed a repeated appeal to the Shklou District Prosecutor's Office pointing at the violation of the electoral legislation in the Shklou district and again asked officers of the prosecutor's office to explain whether Mikhail Paulovich, who has a criminal record, can legally hold the position of Chairman of the Shklou District Council.
"I waited for issue No. 20 of the newspaper "Udarny Front" for March 12, as Chairman of the Shklou District Election Commission A. Huryn promised me in writing that the information on the criminal records of the candidates for the Shklou District Council will be published in it,” says Mr. Kastusiou. “To my great surprise, no information on this subject was published there. I immediately visited Shklou District Election Commission and talked to its chairman and deputy chairman. Mr. Hurynau explained to me that he had done everything he could to prepare the necessary data and transmit it to the newspaper, but they hadn't been published for reasons beyond his control.
After this, I filed a repeated appeal to the Shklou District Prosecutor's Office, where again pointed at violations of the electoral legislation in the Shklou district. I asked them to find out why information about criminal records of candidates for deputies has not appeared in the newspaper "Udarny Front". I also again asked the prosecutor to give a written response, on which grounds previously convicted Mikhail Paulovich occupied the position of chairman of the Shklou District Council, as far as the Shklou District Election Commission responded that this issue was beyond its competence.”
Let us remind that on February 28 Ryhor Kastusiou applied to the Shklou District Prosecutor's Office to draw attention to violations of the elecctoral law in the publication of information about the candidates for the Shklou District Council in the district newspaper "Udarny Front". The newspaper ignored the Belarusian electoral legislation and did not indicate the income of the candidates for the past year, as well as their criminal records. In particular, it omotted information about the criminal record of the present head of the Shklou District Council Mikhail Paulovich.
March 7, Ryhor Kastusiou received two replies to his appeal to the prosecutor's office – from the prosecutor's office and the district election commission.
Shklou District Prosecutor Liancheuski informed Mr. Kastusiou that his appeal was forwarded to the Shklou District Election Commission.
The response from the Shklou District Election Commission signed by its Chairman A. Hurynau reported that "in accordance with Article 68 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus, Shklou District Election Commission determined by its regulation No. 6-108 of February 20, 2014 the way to inform the voters about the income and asssets of the candidates for the Shklou District Council in the general posters with the biographic data provided by the candidates.
The information about criminal records of candidates for the Shklou District Council will be published in the local newspaper "Udarny Front" for March 12, 2014.
The issue of the stay of M.V. Paulovich at the position of Chairman of the Shklou District Council is beyond the competence of the Shklou District Election Commission."
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