Former candidate seeks to prosecute election commission chair in Baranavichy

Ex-candidate for the Brest Regional Council Mikalai Charnavus submitted on May 24 a complaint to the chairman of the Regional Court to appeal against an earlier decision of the Baranavichy City Court of March 21, which claimed that the candidate’s case was beyond the court’s jurisdiction and that by the Brest Regional Court of May 5. He notes that it has been 18 days since the dismissal of his complaint by the Regional Court, but he has not yet received the ruling. Mikalai Charnavus asks the chairman of the Regional Court to cancel the decision of the first and second instances and to prosecute former chair of the election commission of constituency No. 21 Larysa Antonava for violating election laws and discrimination against independent candidates.

Mikalai Charnavus still believes that the election official should be punished because she prevented him from addressing the voters on Baranavichy radio.

“I think that the Baranavichy City Court and the Brest Regional Court simply evaded the consideration of the complaint. The Constitution guarantees us the right to appeal and to be protected in court when rights are violated. The decisions of the courts of the first and second instances show that they do not want to objectively address this simple case,” says human rights activist Viachaslau Bolbat.

In the case of a negative decision by the Chairman of the Regional Court, Mikalai Charnavus intends to seek justice in the higher courts of Belarus.