Stefanovich demands that investigative committee bring a criminal case concerning unlawful travel restrictions



On 4 May the deputy head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Valiantsin Stefanovich applied to the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus with the demand to bring a criminal case.

In his application the
human rights defender expresses suspicions of deliberate criminal actions
(including forgery of documents) as a result of which he was introduced in the
database of the persons who are temporary prohibited to go abroad.

The human rights defender informs the investigative committee that his
applications to various state organs gave no results.

“According to the notice, issued by the citizenship and migration department of
the Partyzanski District Police Department of Minsk, this decision was taken by
the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, and the reason is – evasion
from measures connected with the call-up to military service. According to the
Partyzanski District Police Department, my passport data were put on the
database by some Charednik A.V.

After receiving the notice, I required explanations from the Partyzanski
district military enlistment office of Minsk. The military commissioner and his
deputies answered that they hadn’t sent any information about me anywhere.
There was no information about me in the database of the Minsk city military
enlistment office either.”

Mr. Stefanovich points that the reasons stated in the notice are absurd and
evidently unlawful. First of all, he is 12 years older than the maximal call-up
age. Secondly, he served in the army in 1990-1992. Taking into account that
foreign travel restrictions were imposed on a number of representatives of
independent media, civil association and oppositional political parties, the
human rights defender thinks that these restrictions are not occasional, but
are a designed, unlawful and politically motivated action of Belarusian secret
services.

“Due to the unlawful restriction of my right to leave the Republic of Belarus I
addressed the Office of Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus on 21
March 2012 and asked to hold a prosecutorial examination of these facts and
take the appropriate measures of prosecutorial reaction. On 28 March 2012 the
prosecutor’s office forwarded this application to the Ministry of Defense of
the Republic of Belarus. Then I received an answer from the General Staff of
Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus #2/1-332 of 18 April 2012, signed by
the first deputy head of the General Staff, general-major I.U. Laurynenka. As
it follows from this answer, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus
doesn’t have any information about the temporary restriction of my right to
leave the Republic of Belarus. It means that the Ministry of Defense hasn’t
taken any decisions concerning my person, and no information was passed to the
Ministry of Internal Affairs for putting me on the database,” writes the human
rights defender.

As far as applications to all state agencies have given no result, Valiantsin
Stefanovich, being guided by articles 166, 168 and 174 of the Criminal Process
Code of the Republic of Belarus, asks the Investigative Committee to instigate
a criminal case on the facts that are set forth in the application.
 
Bear in mind that Valiantsin Stefanovich wasn’t let out of Belarus at the
border crossing point “Kamenny Loh” on 11 March 2012. According to explanations
of the head of the border service, the passport data of the human rights
defender were in the database of the persons who were temporary prohibited to
go abroad.
http://spring96.org/en/news/52225