Homel Regional Court turns down appeal of Young Front activist

The Homel Regional Court considered yesterday an appeal lodged by co-chair of the Young Front opposition movement Andrei Tsianiuta against a decision of the Tsentralny District Court, who earlier dismissed his complaint. The defendant in the case was the Homel State University, from where the activist was expelled.

On 1 October, the Tsentralny District Court of Homel dismissed Tsianiuta’s complaint. The activist was expelled from the university, where he was in his third year of the department of law. The official wording of the order signed by the rector was “for systematic unlawful acts in accordance with the Education Code and the internal rules”. The activist was arrested for 10 days for allegedly using foul language and disobedience to police officers. The activist himself believes that the detention and arrest were preventive measures on the eve of the Ice Hockey World Championship. Ahead of the tournament, dozens of opposition activists were imprisoned on charges of disorderly conduct or resisting arrest. The Young Front activist believes his expulsion is illegal and politically motivated, therefore he sued the university.

Andrei Tsianiuta filed an appeal against the decision of the district court, and recently received a copy of a cassation protest of the city prosecutor's office. It noted in particular that "the court decision does not make it clear on what grounds the court came to the conclusions set out in the decision, what evidence was used to confirm them, whether the conclusions of the judgment meet the actual circumstances of the case, whether the court took into account all the facts included in the item of evidence”. Based on the above, deputy prosecutor Zaitsau asked the Homel Gomel Regional Court to quash the decision of the Tsentralny District Court and to send the case for retrial.

However, today, even before the start of the proceedings in the Regional Court, it became known that the Prosecutor’s Office had withdrawn its protest. The Court in turn dismissed the appeal, leaving the decision of the district court in place.