Head of Lukashenka’s administration refused to meet with human rights activists
- 18.09.2009, 14:42
A group of 30 women, who didn’t agree with court decision over civil and criminal cases of their relatives, failed to meet with Uladzimir Makei.
The women, representatives of all regions of Belarus expect the Hrodna region, arrived in Minsk on September 17 for receiving hours of the head of the President’s Administration that was announced yet in August. “But the announcement doesn’t indicate the time when the administration head start accepting people. We applied for an appointment, but none of us was invited; officers in the receiving room refused to say the time of reception, scheduled for 3:00 p.m. That’s why we came to the President’s Administration at 9 in the morning and waited for the whole day hoping for a reception,” human rights activist Halina Yubko told BelaPAN.
According to her, at 4:30 p.m., Pyotr Katushkin, the chief of the receiving room of the President’s Administration, offered to accept a joint statement of 30 applicants or to send it by post.
The women wrote in their statement to Makei that they have been receiving only formal replies from officials in answer to their complaints to the Supreme Court and General Prosecutor’s Office. “In accordance with article 40 of the Constitution of Belarus, “officials must consider a complaint and respond to it within a period established by law”. So, our right to get an answer to our complaints was violated,” the statement said.
The authors say they have repeatedly addressed Prosecutor General Ryhor Vasilevich and chairman of the Supreme Court Valyantsin Sukala to solve the problem of runarounds in a period from July to September. The Prosecutor General met with the claimers and admitted “the existence of the problem and promised to solve it”. But the Supreme Court chairman “refused to discuss the issue”. “Nevertheless, none of our complaints has been reconsidered in accordance with the law and we continue to receive run-arounds,” the statement says.
The authors urge Makei to meet with them to “discuss the problem of formal replies and the planned report to Alyaksandr Lukashenka”.
A group of women, the victims of grave crimes and those who don’t agree with court decisions over civil ad criminal cases of their relatives, was founded in early 2007.