‘Santa Clauses’ passed to the prosecutor general an official confession about activities on behalf of the unregistered organization of Santa Clauses and asked to give the legal evaluation to their activities.
Members of the HR Center “Viasna”, Assembly of Pro-democratic NGOs, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, BPF Youth, etc. were among those ‘surrendering’.
The statement was signed by famous Belarusian human rights defenders. In particular, Valer Shchukin said he was ‘ready to serve punishment for being Santa Claus’.
The lawyer Yury Chavusau said Article 193.1 was nonsense and must be cancelled.
The human rights activist Valiantsin Stefanovich said the action was aimed at showing inadmissibility of Article 193.1 in modern society, as this article envisages responsibility for any group of people organizing activities together.
He added that in such a way civil society activists were trying to raise the public awareness on Article 193.1 in the Criminal Code. ‘We, Santa Clauses, have been systematically holding mass events in cities of Belarus, handing out literary editions to adults and minors, but ‘found out’ that such activities are banned by the Belarusian laws’, said Valiantsin Stefanovich.
The document was registered by the responsible official of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
The HR defenders did not dare to predict the reaction of the prosecutors. If they do not understand humor, self-proclaimed ‘Santa Clauses” risk jail.
Within the campaign STOP 193.3 Belarusian NGOs have also presented animated examples of other ‘illegal’ activities – e.g. three old ladies mushrooming without applying for official registration etc.
The campaign is also supported by foreign bodies, including Human Rights House Foundation. It aims at revealing the absurdity of banning any independent initiative of citizens unauthorized by the Government.
Activities on behalf of an unregistered NGO is an offence in Belarus. It entails criminal persecution and potential inprisonment for up to two years.
