English

Women protesting «unfair» judgments fail to meet with head of Presidential Administration

Uladzimir Makey, head of the Presidential Administration, has refused for the second time to meet with a group of women protesting “unfair” court judgments pronounced against them or in cases of their relatives.

Twenty-eight women from across Belarus attempted to meet with Mr. Makey on December 17 when the Presidential Administration head was receiving members of the public.

“It was our second attempt in the last four months to meet with the head of the Presidential Administration,” Lyudmila Hancharova, a member of the group, told BelaPAN. “But we failed to meet with him after waiting for eight hours in the lobby.”

She said that Mr. Makey’s visiting hours had unexpectedly been moved to the later half of the day.

The women have been seeking meetings with officials in the last several months, saying that they are receiving only pro-forma replies and cops-out to their written complaints.

Ms. Hancharova is protesting her dismissal from the Minsk-based Amkador equipment company where she was fired in 2001, officially for absence with no good reason. //BelaPAN