HUMAN RIGHTS IN BELARUS

The girl turned to BHK. The next phone call from the authorities was answered by the human rights activist Garry Petrovych Pogonyailo and suggested that the KGB officers send Olga an official summons and expressed a desire to be present at the conversation. (Article 62 of the Constitution of Belarus gives such a right to Olga and Harry Petrovych, which states that “everyone has the right to use the help of lawyers and other representatives in court, other state bodies”).

However, the KGB did not want to meet with the human rights defender. Instead, it was promised that Olga would be dealt with by other methods.

Thus, on that day, instead of going to the interview, Olga sent a statement to the KGB, in which she pointed out the illegality of the actions of the employees of this body. The program of the seminar was attached to the application.

And on January 22, “other methods” were used. The KGB officers appealed to the village council of the village of Parokhonsk (Pynska region), where Olyna’s parents live, and demanded that the girl pick up her application. It also became known in Parokhonsk that Olga, a fifth-year student, is threatened with expulsion from Belgos University.

On January 23, a conversation between Olga Petrukovich and Garry Pogoniailo took place with the head of the KGB Reception. The human rights defender drew attention to the illegal nature of the actions of KGB employees who, instead of official invitations, use psychological pressure, including on parents.

Just the other day it became known that a “conversation” about trips to seminars was held with two more participants of the Chernihiv school. Natalya, a law student at the Belarusian State University, had to visit the KGB, where she was asked questions about the topics and participants of the meetings, and the state service was especially interested in who the trainers and experts were.

The second interlocutor of the KGB officer in Vitebsk was Denys Lesun – right in the office of the dean of the law faculty.

Although specific questions about the seminar in Chernihiv were not asked, such coincidences leave many questions for BHC.

We have already prepared a letter to the KGB, please come to us with questions first of all, since the “Belarusian Helsinki Committee” is an open organization and operates only within the framework of the law. KGB employees were offered to meet with the organizers of educational programs of the BHK and ask the latter any interesting questions.

However, it is still unclear whether such an initiative will find a response.