BCD denied premises for holing congress

Several institutions and agencies have denied to the organizing committee for creation of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party to give premises for holding a congress.

The party congress is scheduled for June. Charter97.org website was informed about that by the press-service of the Belarusian Christian Democratic Party.

“Since the organizing committee for creation of the Belarusian Christian Democratic Party addressed senior management of 13 institutions in Minsk with a request to give them premises for holding the founding congress of the BCD party on June 13, it intensified its efforts to find a place to rent. However, only denials are received so far,” the report reads.

On April 22 representatives of Renaissance Hotel Minsk informed that a congress of dentists would be held on June 13 there, while other days have been booked by school graduates.

On April 23 a denial from the Palace of Culture of MAZ was received. Its management stated that the Director General of MAZ adopts decisions on rent of premises. However the secretary of the director said that he is not responsible for such questions.

On April 25 a hotel complex Pekin gave a prior consent, promising to prepare the lease agreement on the next day. But in an hour and a half there was a call from the hotel, and it was said that “the security service” had not granted a permission to rent premises for the BCD.

“Other institutions are still considering our application, however it is obvious that solution of the problem is in a political sphere. The BCD is the only Christian Democratic Party of Europe, which is not registered. We urge Christian Democrats of Europe to exert pressure on Belarusian authorities for them not to interfere with granting premises and for offering guarantees for freedom of association,” the Secretary of the organizing committee for creation of the BCD Dzyanis Sadouski noted.