Complaint to Prosecutor General is last hope of former candidate

Opposition activist Valery Karankevich, a former candidate for the Mahiliou Regional Council of Deputies, filed on March 21 a complaint to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus.

In his complaint, Valery Karankevich tells about his unlawful detention on 23 March 2014, right at a polling station in Khotsimsk, as well as about his unsuccessful appeals to the prosecuting authorities at different levels with complaints against employees of the police department in Khotsimsk. The activist asks the Prosecutor General to launch a new probe into his illegal detention immediately before the counting of votes.

"I wrote my complaint to the Prosecutor General to finally go through all the agencies, hoping to find justice,” says Valery Karankevich. “To be honest, I do not expect a positive decision, because I have already passed fourteen different agencies and all the prosecutorial bodies of our country could not see in the actions of the police officers a violation of my constitutional rights. However, I believe that we need to go to the end, because if I do not stand up for my rights, then I cannot help others do it. Soon, there will be a presidential election campaign, and I think that the pressure on opposition activists will only increase.”