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Homel Activist Address To UN Human Rights Committee

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Homel Activist Address To UN Human Rights Committee

The Belarusian authorities violated the activists’ rights to peaceful assembly and expression of their opinion.

Activists of the Homel branch of the United Civil Party Uladzimir Katsora and Uladzimir Niapomniashchykh have submitted an individual complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee. They believe that the Belarusian authorities violated their rights to peaceful gatherings and expression of their opinion. The conflict situation which requires interfering of an international structure, namely, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, started last December, gomelspring.org informs.

Back then, the activists filed an application for holding a picket in Homel with an aim of attracting attention to prevention of destruction of the old money after the planned denomination in 2016 in connection with the possible new inflation processes in Belarus.

The city executive committee denied the application and the Central district court, where this denial was appealed, took the authorities’ side. The Homel regional court also left the decision of the lower instance unchanged. The Supreme Court and the General Prosecutor’s Office didn’t hear the oppositionists either – the court’s decision was left unchanged, and the supervision complaints of the applicants were not satisfied.

Having used all the domestic legal means, the activists addressed to the UN Human Rights Committee. Katsora and Niapomniashchykh think that the state, in particular, the Homel city executive committee, violates the people’s rights by its decision regarding the order of conducting mass events in Homel.

First, there are only two grounds allocated for holding pickets and demonstrations in a nearly half-a-million city; secondly, the applicants of mass events are obliged to sign agreements and pay for the work of special services, namely, the communal services and the ambulance. Such practice leads to violation of the right to freedom of holding peaceful demonstrations and freedom to expression of an opinion, that is, violation of Articles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Secondly, the applicants consider that the authorities' ban on peaceful assembly was not necessary for the interests of the national security, the public order, the protection of public health, rights and freedoms of others.

It should be noted that in recent years the United Nations Human Rights Committee has adopted more than a dozen decisions, which sharply criticized the officials who had introduced a taboo for peaceful assembly in Homel. Despite criticism from the UN Committee, the city officials continue to totally prohibit any initiative which is planned to be held without the participation of the authorities.

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