Sluck Prosecutor's Office ignores report on coercion to vote early
The Sluck District Prosecutor's Office has reportedly investigated allegations of coercion to vote early used towards the employees of the children's sanatorium Sluch, but found no grounds to intervene.
An independent observer from the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Vital Amialkovich, was interviewed by the prosecutors and told in detail a report by a couple working in the sanatorium who alleged coercion to vote early by the administration. The prosecutors also interviewed the chief manager of the sanatorium Mikhail Marchkouski. According to his testimony, the administration did not force employees to participate in early voting, but only arranged an explanatory meeting to tell about the existence of such an opportunity.
The BHC representative is not surprised by the testimony of the sanatorium staff, but says the Prosecutor's Office failed to investigate the case thoroughly.
“Naturally, the head of the sanatorium would never witness against himself. As for the members of the commission, who did not confirm my words, after the vote count I am confident that they do not have problems with hearing, but with their conscience. However, the prosecutors could have done their job better and, at least, interviewed the employees of the sanatorium. Unfortunately, the response from the District Prosecutor Mr. Zhytski says that this was not done,” says the observer.
The Central Election Commission has also ignored the allegations. The observer’s complaint was forwarded to the territorial election commission, which had previously refused to address the violation of the Election Code.