Ministry of Information does not evaluate the words “bastard” and “lousy”

The Ministry of Information of Belarus has no jurisdiction to explain the sense of the words “bastard” and “lousy”.

This conclusion can be made from a reply to Mahilou residents, who addressed minister Aleh Pralyaskouski with this request. The authors of the request also try to find out whether the president of Belarus can afford saying such words in regard to other people, Radio Svaboda reports.

The appeal was inspired by Alyaksnadr Lukashenka’s remarks on April 26, when he said he did not want “to talk about any Barrosos or other bastards like that” and called Ukrainian leadership “lousy”.

The reply, signed by first deputy minister Ihar Laptsyonak, says the questions raised in the request do not fall within competence of the Ministry of Information.

Human rights activist Barys Bukhel, one of the authors, says the Ministry violates the law with its answer.

“This formal reply violates the Law on Public Appeals. Public appeals to governmental agencies, which have no jurisdiction to answer to them, must be re-sent to other agencies that have such competences. Also, a reply should be sent with explanation why the appeal was re-sent. In our case, the Ministry of Information did not do it. Now we are thinking how we should react to this violation.”

The appeal to minister Pralyaskouski was initiated by Alyaksei Paulouski, a construction worker and member of the independent Radio-Electronic Trade Union. He says many people were perplexed after Lukashenka’s remarks and don’t know how to react to them. Paulouski comments on the reply from the ministry:

“It is absolutely clear that they do not want to frame their boss Lukashenka. The people, who signed the appeal, want just one thing: a person who behaves like a lout must answer for that. I am going to appeal against the reply of the Ministry to a prosecutor’s office and courts, if necessary.”