‘Parasitic’ Decree #3 Out Of Court’s Jurisdiction

The authorities refuse to exclude the Homel region from the database of citizens “not employed in the economy.”

Dzmitry Deboi, the judge of the Chyhunachny district court of Homel, denied a resident of Homel Maryja Tarasenka to initiate a lawsuit on the complaint about the inclusion of her personal data into the database of citizens not employed in the economy by the so-called “parasitic commission”, Homel Spring reports.

Although the ruling of a district judge has not entered into legal force, the refusal of the court worries today at least half a million Belarusians, whom the authorities attributed to this category and intend to sell utility services under economically justified tariffs.

According to Maryja, she did not rule out such a scenario, but still hoped that the court would accept her lawsuit. The interlocutor said that the city executive committee and the administration of the Chyhunachny district of Homel, where she had previously filed complaints, sent her to the court in case of disagreement.

- So we addressed to the court. However, the court did not accept the complaint due to lack of jurisdiction,” said the woman, who had already challenged the refusal of the judge.

Human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka, who initiated the first complaint of a not engaged in court, notes, although the updated Decree No. 3 does not provide for citizens to appeal against the decision of the so-called parasite commissions, however, the courts are obliged to initiate such cases.

According to him, the complaint to the court contained two requirements: raising the issue before the Constitutional Court on the non-compatibility of the Decree #3 to the Constitution, and excluding her personal data from the database of citizens not employed in the economy.

- By refusing to initiate proceedings, the court left without consideration the first requirement. After the second requirement, the court limited itself to the wording “you are not assigned with any obligations”. Let's wait and see how this initiative will be assessed by the regional court, - the interlocutor noted.

The human rights activist suggests to all those whom the authorities called “not employed in the economy” to keep on writing complaints, including to the courts. He claims that after several thousand such complaints, the authorities will reconsider their attitude to the problem they have created - to make Belarusians work for food.