The Belarusian Ministry of Justice rejected the human rights defenders’ application to legalise the association Nasha Viasna. The founders of the organisation received a long letter which they call “a typical rejection”.
Alongside with formalistic reasons, the Ministry points to the old “sins” of the founders: in the past some of them were subject to administrative or criminal prosecution for their participation in “unsanctioned” manifestations, disseminating “illegal” printed production etc. The officials put into question the very fact of the organisation’s founding congress.
In a special statement (in Belarusian), the founders called the refusal to register Nasha Viasna a “cynical violation of international obligations” of the Republic of Belarus. In their opinion, the authorities proved unready for systematic changes towards liberalisation.
“It is a systematic violation of my personal right to the freedom of organisation and assembly,” – says human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovich. – Certainly, we are going to appeal against this decision to the Supreme Court, then to the Chairperson of the Supreme Court, and finally to the UN Commission on Human Rights”.
Nasha Viasna (Our Spring) is a de facto successor of the liquidated organization Viasna. In 2007 the UN Human Rights Committee stated that by closing down Viasna the Belarusian authorities violated Article 22-1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In its resolution the UNHCC obliged the Belarusian government to take precautions against similar violations in future.
