2 March 2003
Human rights activist evicted from polling station in Brest
Vladimir Velichkin, leader of the Brest branch of the Vyasna human rights center, was evicted by police from a voting place in Brest on the morning of March 2 after a poll worker labeled him a "provocateur."
Mr. Velichkin, who coordinated election observers, arrived at the school that housed polling station No. 78 to familiarize himself with the voting process there. "I asked the precinct commission's chairman for permission to make a picture," he told BelaPAN. "After I took out my camera, a woman from among the commission whose name I do not know shouted that I am a provocateur. A police officer on duty called a patrol. Some people armed with assault rifles arrived to look into what was going on. They examined my papers, consulted someone on the phone for a long time and then said there was nothing wrong in my conduct but escorted me out of the building."
Mr. Velichkin noted that Belarusian regulations provide for punishment for a false alarm. He said that he would report the incident to the central election commission. The Vyasna human rights organization's Brest branch had fielded 24 observers. Seventeen of them operated in the
regional center.A total of 1,200 representatives of workers' collectives,
political parties and non-governmental organizations observed the local elections in the Brest region. Observers devoted particular attention to the elections for the Brest City Soviet and the Brest Regional Soviet,
according to the regional election commission. Dmitry Shimansky, leader of the Suzorye youth organization, told BelaPAN that six representatives of his organizations were monitoring the election process. All of them were placed in the three polling stations of District No. 2. According to Mr. Shimansky, they had not reported any irregularities during the five-day early voting.
There were 998 polling stations in the region. Some 4,000 people competed for seats in soviets of various levels. More than 23 percent of all eligible voters had reportedly exercised their right of early voting.
http://brestonline.com/en/news/news373.html