Mikalai Charnavus Jr. Continues Fighting For Abolition Of Decree On Parasites

Baranavichy activist appealed to the UN.

On November 8, Mikalai Charnavus Jr., a legal counsel and activist from Baranavichy, filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee after an unsuccessful struggle for his rights in the Belarusian courts, the website of the Human Rights Center Viasna reports.

The complaint concerns the violation of his right to freely express his opinion. So, on February 6, 2017, Mikalai Charnavus Jr., along with other citizens, came to the building of the Inspection Branch of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties in Baranavichy. He intended to hand over the city residents' signatures for the abolition of decree number 3 and to collect additional signatures.

After some time, he learned that police made up a protocol on administrative violation against him, charging him under Part 2 of Article 23.34 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Belarus. And then, on March 20, Aksana Kopach, a judge of the Baranavichy court, found Charnavus guilty of the offense and fined him 25 basic values (575 rubles). Mikalai Charnavus appealed the fine to the Brest Regional Court, but the decision of the district court remained unchanged. Now Mikalai Charnavus decided to turn to an international body to protect his rights.

Siarhei Housha and Aliaksandr Vaitseshyk, human rights activists of the Human Rights Center Viasna from Baranovichy, who helped Charnavus with filing a complaint to the HRC, note that the prosecution for collecting signatures grossly violates the right of citizens to peaceful assembly, enshrined in Art. 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

We remind, that Charnavus Junior's father – Mikalai Charnavus – filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee relating to the same incident in May.