Mikhail Pastukhou: We Must Promote Our Independence Every Day

The West-2017 exercises are a serious threat to the sovereignty of Belarus.

The Minsk City Executive Committee turned down an application the Youth of the BPF on holding a march and a rally in the Park of Peoples’ Friendship on the occasion of the anniversary of giving the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Belarus the constitutional law status on August 25, 1991.

The officials themselves do not plan anything on this day. Why do not the authorities notice this date? How important is it for the modern history of our country? Professor Mikhail Pastukhou, a judge of the Constitutional Court of Belarus of the first convocation, an honored lawyer of the Republic of Belarus, expressed his opinion in an interview to Your Country’s Tomorrow.

According to the lawyer, the day of independence of Belarus was not a one-time event:

– Initially, when the Soviet Union was only disintegrating, the Supreme Council had to confirm the fact that the Belarusian state left the USSR in 1990. But that was a formal act to follow the Russian Federation’s example. After the failure of the putsch in August 1991, the decision on Belarus’ independence was made again more consciously by the parliament deputies and it was made primarily under the BPF faction’s influence and initiative. For the first time in the history of Belarus, a constitutional law was adopted. There had been no such precedents in Belarus before.

According to Mikhail Pastukhou, that precedent was very important since the Declaration of Sovereignty was given the power of the Constitution. It was stated that the Declaration of Sovereignty was the basis of the future Constitution and that all the legislative acts had to correspond to it.

– In fact, it was a small Constitution of the Belarusian state, which played a very important role in further strengthening of sovereignty and in adopting of the Constitution in 1994. There is every reason why in present these two events must be reflected in the preamble of the Constitution – the adoption of the Declaration of Sovereignty on July 27, 1990 and its approval as the constitutional law on August 25, 1991.

At the same time, the professor emphasizes that we mustn’t forget the first legal step towards the independence of the Republic of Belarus, made in the beginning of 1918:

– In December 1917, the creation of the Belarusian People's Republic was stated at the All-Belarusian Congress of Representatives, and later on March 25, 1918, it was decided that the BPR was an independent state. That date was very important, too, therefore the Independence Day of Belarus consists of three parts: the proclamation of the independence of the BPR on March 25, 1918, the formal declaration of the sovereignty of the Belarusian state on July 27, 1990 and the final constitutional approval of sovereignty on August 25, 1991.

The expert adds that independence is not limited to some legal acts only:

– Independence means to keep promoting the independence and sovereignty of the country every day. And now Belarus is under the menace that comes from the Russian Federation, as joint military exercises are being planned, Russia is conducting them on the territory of our country. The neighboring state deploys its armed forces on the territory of our country in order to play in our sandbox. It can be regarded as a serious threat to the sovereignty of Belarus.

We remind that on September 8, at 19.00, the prevention rally demanding the abolition of the West-2017 exercises is to be held at Kastrychnitskaya Square in Minsk.