Hrodna Regional Expert Commission has been examining "Situation of Human Rights in Belarus in 2014" for almost 6 months

Back on March 13, 2015h officers of the Ašmiany customs detained more than 40 copies of the book “Situation of Human Rights in Belarus Belarus in 2014. Review-Chronicle”, carried by a human rights activist Ales Dzerhachou through the border. Three days later, March 16, 2015 the customs officers appointed a primary customs examination of the edition.

In August, Mr. Dzerhachou filed a formal appeal, asking the customs office why there were still no results of the expert examination, and demanded to be sent a copy of the decision to appoint the examination.

The customs office didn't consider his appeal exhaustively. In particular, no copy of the appropriate decision was sent to the applicant, the reasons weren't explained. However, the customs officer informed him that according to some information received from Hrodna Regional Expert Commission the examination of the book and the issuance of an expert conclusion on it were planned on September 2015.

In its answer Ašmiany customs also disregarded the requirements of the current legislation governing the language issues, as Mr. Dzerhachou's appeal was written in Belarusian, whereas the answer, dated August 26, 2015 and signed by D. Stsepanenka, was given in Russian. This is an evident violation of the law on citizens' appeals. The carelesessness of the customs officers is also witnessed by the fact that in their reply they wrote the applicant's surname with an error.