Ihar Rynkevich: «There always exists opportunity to bring to justice militiamen perjuring, officials passing unlawful judgements»

The fabricating of administrative cases against the democratic activists has assumed the mass character in Belarus. The OMON staff (riot militia) and militiamen are perjuring on the courts that the oppositionists allegedly used obscene language, and the judges in their turn are passing the judgements unlawfully. “This is the lameness of the repression system, created by Lukashenka. As such, they are not able to think up something new and less banal. The so called facts in evidence of such a offence follow the same scheme: a militiamen says it took place, the civil people never witness. If somebody accompanied the person, his or her evidences are not taken into consideration. From the juridical point of view it is falsification of evidence and unlawful bringing to administrative responsibility”, - Ihar Rynkevich, the famous lawyer, co-chairman of the Public Commission on the Political Repressions Victims Rehabilitation, declared in the interview to Charter’97 press center.

“Vasil Bykau in his time proposed an idea of creation a “grey book”, where the names of the so called antiheroes of our time, the perjuring militiamen, the officials passing unlawful judgements on bringing to administrative responsibility were written down. Though the terms here are not as in the Criminal Code, nevertheless, if proceed from the mechanism of the Citizens Address Law there always exists a possibility to use legal mechanisms and bring such militiamen to the responsibility. It is important to remind that such actions of the militiamen and the officials won’t be unpunished. The case is not only in the morality but also in the legal mechanisms”, - the lawyer declared.

Ihar Rynkevich advices the people who became the victims of the fabricated administrative cases to fix the circumstances of the so called administrative offence –muster witnesses’ support, record the militiamen’s data, keep all the documents, especially the order of bringing to administrative responsibility. One needs also to carry out the appelate procedure, up to the appeal to the UNO Human Rights Committee. “The more complaints come to the UNO, the faster they begin to solve your problem”, - Rynkevich said.

“If appraise the existing situation from the political point of view, it is evident that the repressions won’t lead to anything. After the election campaign in 2006 many people lost fear and killed the slave in themselves. I am sure, if we struggle for freedom, the authorities will have to hold not parliamentary election but president reelection”, - the lawyer thinks.