On 9 October Aleh Kliuiko, the Judge of Minsk Economic Court, ruled to grant a claim of the tax authorities to the “Platforma” and to shut down the organisation. The human rights defenders were accused of breach of the reporting procedures and the fact that their office was not located at the address stated in the documents as legal. After less than two hours of trial the court decided that “Platforma” should be liquidated. Andrei Bandarenka, Head of the organisation and a former political prisoner, said that he expected such a decision of the court:

“Now to the outside world we come to exemplify what is going on in Belarus and how human rights organisations are pressurized. So that the permanent representatives of Belarus would not be able to claim at the UNO or the OSCE that human rights are observed in Belarus and that human rights organisations can perform their activities”.

Closure as an attempt to pressure civil society in Belarus

According to human rights defenders, the court ruling followed the order from the authorities to liquidate the organisation that protects the rights of prisoners. Head of the human rights organisation “Belarusian Helsinki Committee” Aleh Hulak says that the closure is an attempt of pressure on civil society in Belarus:

“It is a customary practice, when formal breach of, for example, the tax law is used for the prosecution of civil society’s structures. In my opinion, liquidation of the organisation for such violations is utterly unreasonable. Moreover, other organisations also have these violations, and it is obvious that the authorities have biased attitude to these organisations. It is evident that the court’s decision resulted from the activeness of “Platforma”, and this is one more fact of pressure on the structures of civil society”.

Human rights defenders do not give in

Human rights defenders, however, are not going to give in and are lodging complaints. “We have filed in the complaint to the court of appeal of the Minsk Economic Court. We hope the complaint will be considered in due terms specified by the law. But we have already received a message that a liquidation commission to eliminate “Platforma” has been established. That’s how it is – the court’s decision has not come into force yet, but the liquidation commission has started to operate”, Alena Krasouskaya-Kaspiarovich, an activist of “Platforma”, commented on the situation.

European institutions and the UN were also informed about the closure of “Platforma”. Thus, “Platforma” has petitioned Margaret Sekaggya, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. In their letter the organisation listed facts of persecution and pressure on human rights defenders in Belarus and, in particular, on the “Platforma” and its Head Andrei Bandarenka. The court decision to close the organisation and the police pressure on Andrei Bandarenka were listed. “Platforma” urged the UN Special Rapporteur to pay attention to the pressure on the Belarusian human rights defenders, to start communication with the Government of Belarus to prevent such persecution, and also encouraged her to visit Belarus in order to study the situation in detail.

Related articles

Human Rights House Network calls upon Belarusian authorities to release Ales Bialiatski

4 August – International Day of Solidarity with Civil Society and Human Rights Movement in Belarus