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Homel Journalist: I’ll Keep Telling Officials That They Are Slaves

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Homel Journalist: I’ll Keep Telling Officials That They Are Slaves
PHOTO: Radio Svaboda

The court acquitted Kanstantsin Zhukouski, who called an official of the Kastrychnitski District Executive Committee a "slave."

The court dismissed the case against Homel freelance journalist Kanstantsin Zhukouski, who called executive secretary of the Kastrychnitski District Executive Committee Valiantsina Shlapakova a "slave", naviny.by writes.

The consideration of the administrative report, drawn up by the employees of the Kastrychnitski district police department against a Homel journalist, was held at the court of Tsentralny district of Homel on January 19. The Protocol under Article 9.3 of the Administrative Code (an insult) was drawn up by the police following Shlapakova’s statement. The official claimed that the freelancer had insulted her, calling her a "slave". The police protocol stated that on December 14, Kanstantsin Zhukouski "spoke out various kinds of insults, addressing Valiantsina Shlapakova, and deliberately humiliated honor and dignity of the latter in an unseemly manner."

At the trial, chaired by Alesia Vosipava, the freelancer told that indeed he met the official on 14 December, when he was making a video at the central square, telling about the officials of the executive committee, who were buying new cars in time of the crisis. The executive secretary approached him, and, according to the journalist, without giving her name, began to demand his accreditation and forbade making the video, grabbing the camera and covering it with her hands.

Zhukouski, according to his story, expressed the opinion during the incident, that any official appears to be the people’s servant, people’s slave. "The Russian president said that he was working as a galley slave, people are called servants of God in the church, the official is the people’s servant, in other words – a slave, there is nothing offensive about it. And demanding people’s documents in the street and prohibiting the shooting are outside the scope of the executive secretary’s duties. In fact, the official exceeded her authority and was molesting me in the street, it is an administrative violation. She interfered with my work, so I couldn’t earn money to pay taxes to support the officials," – the journalist said in court.

Shlapakova, in turn, argued that she did not prohibit shooting, and came up just to find out, if she could assist in it. The word "slave" she considered an insult, as it was expressed in an aggressive manner. "We all know, and it so happened historically, that a servant is a man who has this word on his forehead," – the executive secretary added. She was offended that Zhukouski, pointing to the building of the executive committee, said that "criminals" were working or had worked in this building. He was referring to the former chairman of the executive committee, which had previously been arrested on suspicion of corruption crimes.

As a result, the judge issued a decision to stop the administrative proceedings in connection with the absence of corpus delicti, as the word "slave" is not an insult, and the word "criminals" was not addressed to a specific person.

"Officials, who essentially are the servants of the people, feel like masters in our country, and people are nobody for them. People are dragged to court or police even for a sidelong glance. Recent events in the country, such as the decree on "parasitism", show that officials treat people as slaves and take offense when they are reminded of who they really are. I will continue to tell the officials that they are slaves, servants of the people, not the masters, and that they do not have the right to prohibit making videos and to grab cameras," – the freelancer commented on the decision.

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