Leanid Sudalenka: They Call Half A Million People ‘Parasites’, Violate Constitution

The lawyer of the REP Trade Union intends to go further in the struggle against the illegal decree.

Maryja Tarasenka, a resident of Homel, who was put on the list of “not employed in the economy” by the relevant commission, told Solidarity about the outcome of her attempt to go to court:

- The court clerk called me and said that the judge refused to consider my case. No wording: they did not report for what reason I was denied. They said only to come to court and take my lawsuit back.

According to Maryja, she did not rule out such a scenario, but still hoped that the court would take up her lawsuit.

The interlocutor said that after publications in the media of her story, she was no longer called by the housing department or the commission. Only two letters arrived - from the executive committee and the administration of the Chyhunachny district of Homel, which set forth the essence of the normative acts concerning the unemployed in the economy. And postscript about the possibility to go to court in case of disagreement.

- So we did. But the court did not want to work with this situation,” said Maryja, who is now waiting for a court ruling to find out the reason for the refusal, and is also preparing to appeal the judge’s decision.

“The right to appeal in court is guaranteed by the Constitution”

- This is an unlawful decision. If the court wants to refuse to consider the case, it must make a ruling. So far, we have seen lawlessness on the part of the court’s secretariat,” commented lawyer of the REP trade union Leanid Sudalenka, commenting for Solidarity.

He does not exclude that the court recognizes the case of Tarasenka out of its competence:

- The Decree #3 does not provide for citizens to appeal against the decision of the so-called parasite commissions. But we intend to go further. And if the court makes that ruling, we will appeal it. After all, then we will have such a picture: the authorities created commissions, listed half a million people against their will as the citizens not employed in the economy and at the same time do not allow to complain. But after all, the right to appeal in court is guaranteed by the Constitution.

According to Sudalenka, the court is obliged to consider the lawsuit of a citizen, even if it is absurd:

- For example, I will ask the court to send me into outer space. Of course, instead of outer space, I can be sent to a psychiatric hospital. But at the same time, the court will first have to consider my application at merits. And in our case, the court did not even start the case. We will seek the opposite.

The lawyer of the REP believes that the authorities made certain conclusions from the history of the non-parasites protests in Homel in the spring of 2017:

- Then they started the case of Aliaksandr Siamionau, and now they do not. The very effect of the renewed decree is stretched out in time - the tariffs for water heating will be raised now, for gas - only in the autumn. The authorities are monitoring the situation.