Mahiliou: Court Reverses Police Rulings against Seven US Citizens

21.06.2007. Tags: religious persecution.

According to the director of the international charitable association Stefanus Dzmitry Kantsavenka, Kastrychnitski court of Mahiliou has reversed the rulings for administrative punishment of seven US citizens and returned their cases for reconsideration.

On 9 and 14 February 2007 a deputy chair of Kastrychnitski police department of Mahiliou the citizens ruled to warn and fine these people, and on 18 February they were deported and banned entry for two years on the basis of the ruling of the chair of the citizenship and migration section of the police department of 15 February.

The citizens of the USA were participants of the charitable action ‘English for Everyone’ dedicated to development of oral speech of Mahiliou citizens. There is no need to receive any official permission from the Ministry of Education for such activity.

According to Mr. Kantsavenka, on 1-13 June the judges Natallia Kantsedal, Tatsiana Karapetsian, Pavel Klimau, Aliaksandr Ramanau, Alena Selitsova and Aliaksei Yakauleu reversed the rulings of the deputy chair of Kastrychnitski police department of Mahiliou. The judges motivated it with the fact that in the violation reports composed against the US citizens the places where the violation had taken place were not specified, their religious activity was not described and there were mistakes in the names.

Thus, according to Kantsavenka, the court indirectly pointed at incompetence of a number of officials who had relation to these cases, including the prosecutor of Kastrychnitski borough of Mahiliou Arkadz Kachanau, the deputy chair of Kastrychnitski police department of Mahiliou Siarhei Ivanou, the chair of the police department Aliaksandr Vasiliyeu an the chair of the section of citizenship and migration Henadz Semianenka.