Court officers threaten to confiscate property of former opposition parliamentary contender’s relatives unless he pays fine :: Charter'97 :: News

Court officers on November 12 visited the house of relatives of Aleksei Shein, a contender in October`s parliamentary race, to appraise property that is to be confiscated toward payment of a fine imposed on Mr. Shein three years ago.

As Mr. Shein, a leader of an opposition youth group, said in an interview with BelaPAN, he was fined 1,125,000 rubels ($520) for taking part in an unauthorized anti-fascist protest staged in Minsk in 2001.

“Nobody had remembered the fine until I decided to run in the elections,” he noted. According to Mr. Shein, he obtained official registration as a tenant in his grandmother`s house only a few months ago and owns nothing of the property targeted for confiscation, which included furniture belonging to his grandmother and a computer and a stereo set belonging to his younger brother.

“I tried to explain to them that I live in the house only temporarily but to no avail. They said my relatives might file a complaint with a court within a 10-day period," Mr. Shein said.

During the parliamentary campaign, the opposition activist, who had never had either a wife or children, was visited by a district police officer who claimed that Mr. Shein evaded alimony payments to his former wife.

Mr. Shein links both incidents with his political activities.