Aleg Vouchak – banned to leave the country, too

Human rights activist Aleg Vouchak got his new passport on 23 March in the department for citizenship and migration of the Frunzienski district of Minsk.

The Tsantralny district police department of Minsk who is now studying Aleg Vouchak’s application regarding his stolen passport has prolonged the time of consideration of the application till 8 May.

”There, at the police department, I checked if I could travel abroad. They told me that I am temporarily banned from leaving the country basing on the note from the Justice Ministry from 5 March 2012. Or in other words, the same reason as to why other representatives of the civil society cannot leave the country. I think this is a severe violation of the Constitution. This is another lame attempt of the powers to create additional hinders for us. It shows how weak the powers are. I will also ask the prosecutor’s office who prepared these questionable “lists” of leaders and activists of political parties, human rights organizations, independent journalists, and what data were used when the lists were prepared,” Aleg Vouchak told the Belaruski Partyzan.

On 27 January leader of the social movement Legal Assistance to the People (Kyiv, Ukraine) Aleg Vouchak was detained in Minsk on his way to a post office. He was stopped by the police; Artur Shakhlay, vice head of the Tsantralny district police station, was among the policemen. What started as a regular ID-check ended with a protocol and charges of minor hooliganism (foul language). On 30 January the court of the Tsantralny district of Minsk found Vouchak guilty on article 17.1 of administrative code and sentenced him to a the four-day administrative arrest. Having served the sentence, the human rights activist thoroughly searched the apartment that he rents, and didn’t find his passport.