Registration of human rights defending organizations forbidden in Belarus – Ministry of Justice

The verdict concerning the appeal of a group of human rights defenders complaining about the refusal of the Ministry of Justice to register a human rights defending association “Vyasna” will be announced by the Supreme Court of Belarus tomorrow.

Let us remind you that officials explained their decision by the fact that a human rights defending centre “Vyasna” liquidated in 2003 had the same name. The fact that the organizers had already been called to account for administrative infringements was also mentioned as a reason for the refusal.

Human rights defenders tried to prove that the demands of the Ministry of Justice were not based on the law during an argument in Supreme Court today.

The head of the association Ales Byalyatski drew attention to the moral and ethical aspect of the case, to the situation with human rights in the country and drew historical analogies in his speech.

A human rights defender Uladzimir Labkovich shared his opinion about the tomorrow’s verdict with ERB:

“I think the decision will not be based on the law because in this case our complaint would have to be satisfied. It will be a political decision.

A representative of the Ministry of Justice claimed that the registration of civil associations protecting human rights was forbidden in our country”.

Let us remind you that the verdict will be pronounced on October 26 at 12 p.m.