“Editor of ‘Brest Courier’ Mikalay Alaksandrau refused to sign the complaint, saying he didn’t want to participate in court fights with the authorities. I was surprised by this position, since it makes no sense to sign the nomination and not to push the matter through,” said MFF Brest region leader Dzianis Turchaniak in his interview to Radio Liberty.

The activist says the fact that the complaint wasn’t considered only because it wasn’t signed by one of the ten persons is a violation of the rights of the other nine persons:

“The court’s demand that the complaint should be signed by all citizens who nominated Vakulenka as their representative appears to be absurd, because not just ten but, for example, several thousand people can nominate their representatives. Accordingly, it’s impossible to collect the signatures of so many people within three days. If, God forbid, one of such persons dies, it will make appealing against non-inclusions in commissions totally impossible. And, this is a violation of the constitutional rights, a refusal for people in access to justice.”

Earlier, the Brest Regional Court dismissed the appeals of Dzianis Turchaniak, as well as those of other representatives of the democratic opposition, against non-inclusions in the regional commission.

Turchaniak explains that the very formation of regional commissions reflects the undemocratic nature of the election:

“Citizens will be able to trust the commissions if they will be composed of an equal number of representatives of each candidate. After all, each candidate is interested in winning and will prevent fraud against himself or herself. However, today’s regional commissions are formed mainly of supporters of the candidate by the surname Lukashenka.” //Radio Liberty