Belarusian Helsinki Committee goes to court against Ministry of Justice

On March 9, the Supreme Court of Belarus started hearing on the appeal of the republican NGO Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) against the warning issued by the Ministry of Justice.

The court proceeding is conducted by judge Halina Zhukouskaya.

A written warning of the Ministry of Justice was filed to the BHC on January 12 after human rights activists had informed the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Gabriela Knaul about the facts of how the authorities were pressing on the lawyers, who defended their clients in the criminal case of mass riot on December 19, BelaPAN news agency reminds.

Besides, the letter said about disbarring of lawyer Valyantina Busko, who had been detained on Independence Square in Minsk on December 19. The BHD also informed the UN Special Rapporteur about initiating a criminal case against Mikhail Vouchak, a former lawyer of investigator of the General Prosecutor’s Office Svyatlana Baikova, for disclosing investigation materials.

The Ministry of Justice demanded to provide it with the text of the letter and issued a written warning to the BHD for “violation of the law on pubic associations, media, spreading wrongful information that discredits the law-enforcement agencies and judicial bodies, the charter of the organization”.

The Ministry of Justice thinks the information in the BHD letter “gives a biased picture of the work of governmental and law-enforcement agencies aimed at maintaining stability and order in the republic, misrepresents the real state of things in the country, makes an attempt to discredit Belarus in the eyes of the international community”.

As the Ministry of Justice thinks, “bar associations cannot be left without attention of the state”, because “professional defense in a criminal process and civil representation are constituent parts of justice”.

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee is the only human rights organization that still remains registered in Belarus.