Constitutional Court approved lists of restricted to travel abroad
22
14:00, — Politics
The Constitutional Court examined the decisions of the Minsk courts concerning the fact that some citizens will be restricted to travel abroad. And it has concluded that the document has legal grounds and rights of any citizens weren’t violated. “We think, the existed temporary restrictions are well founded,” Valyantin Shchukin, judge of the Constitutional Court claims.
As Valyantin Shchukin said to Euroradio, “we have examined cases on this issue in many Minsk courts. And we’ve come to conclusion that everything is well founded as a matter of principle. We think it may be a serious problem of limitation of rights of citizens, but having examined cases we’ve found out there is no problem. We think the existed temporary restrictions are well founded.”
Unlike the present judge of the Constitutional Court, the former one, Valer Fadzeyeu, thinks many people in our country are included in the list of restricted to travel abroad. The organisation, received the right to make this list, can have too much freedom to use this right.
“There is a legal rule, and when it is changed, it can receive wide interpretation, and thus problems appear. It is always dangerous. In particular for the citizens, who have any attitude towards politics,” Valer Fadzeyeu emphasised.
As it was said earlier, an investigator by his or her order can include not only an accused person, but also suspect and even witness into the list of restricted to travel abroad. A decision of the court is not even needed. But as the former judge thinks, an accused, but not convicted person can’t be put on the list. It restrains his or her rights.
In the mean time, even according to the official data, about half a million of Belarusians got in the list of restricted to travel abroad: convicted, people under investigation, owes to budget, including traffic offenders, dead-heads, who didn’t pay fines, and also those who don’t pay alimony, and those against whom a civil suit was filed (such cases can be conducted for years). It can be supposed, that the number half a million of the restricted to go abroad is not final.
Valer Levaneusky, former political prisoner and human rights activist, thinks “it’s not an occasion that such uncontrolled by the society restriction to leave the country was approved at the time when mass repressions begin in Belarus.” In Levaneusky’s view these events are interconnected.
So, every day 15-20 citizens of Belarus, denied of leaving the country, are returned home from the state frontier. There were 30-40 such people in the beginning of the year. There are first victims among the politicians and public activists. In the beginning of the year Anatol Lyabedzka, leader of the United Civil Party was said he had no right to leave the country. Youth activist and journalist Barys Garetsky wasn’t allowed to leave the country for Kyiv.
So, the main question about who will be responsible for restriction of rights of Belarusians of leaving the country, or we can face “iron curtain” of the USSR times, remains open. No representatives of the authorities have answered it yet. And the Constitutional Court consents silently.
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