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Leanid Kulakou Is Trying To Rein In Judicial Chaos

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Leanid Kulakou Is Trying To Rein In Judicial Chaos
LEANID KULAKOU

The activist of European Belarus appealed to the UN.

Inna Sidarok, a judge of the Pershamaisky district of Minsk, has “lectured” to European Belarus activist Leanid Kulakou twice. On March 23, she sent him to jail for 10 days for putting up a “Freedom To Charter-97” banner with a flare in his hands, and on August 27, fined 40 basic units (980 rubles) for the REP trade union flag and slogans “Long Live Belarus!,” Homel Viasna reports.

Having exhausted all effective remedies within the country, Leanid Kulakou filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee on October 17. The man believes that in both cases the Belarusian authorities violated his right to peaceful assembly and expression.

“Even if I took part in an unauthorized picket in the first case and a spontaneous rally in the second, holding a flare and a white-red-white flag, shouting slogans, the judge was obliged to evaluate my actions following on from our country's international human rights obligations, namely, to prove the expediency of the restrictions imposed on my rights,” – Leanid Kulakou says.

Human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka notes that when limiting the rights, each time it is the authorities who are obliged to prove this expediency. As long as any kind of assembly is held peacefully, the authorities have no right to interfere in it at all.

He recalls that after the verdict to trade union leaders Hennadz Fiadynich and Ihar Komlik was announced, a peaceful gathering near the House of Justice in Minsk spontaneously emerged.

“The national law in general does not provide for the procedure for conducting spontaneous assemblies, as in this case. Therefore, any spontaneous assembly a priori is considered illegal in our country. However, this is not the main problem. The main problem in our country today is complete disregard of basic human rights on the part of the judiciary,” – the lawyer emphasized.

Leanid Kulakou asks the UN Committee to establish the violation of his rights to peaceful assembly and expression. As a general measure, he asks for recommendations to the Belarusian government on bringing the national law on mass events in line with the country's international obligations.

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