Mahiliou Activists Outraged About Ban Of Picket In Support Of REP Trade Union

The activists demand the officials should comply with international norms.

Members of the REP trade union from Mahiliou, having received another refusal to hold a picket, started collecting signatures for the cancellation of the decision of the city executive committee and demand the officials should comply with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, praca-by.info writes.

The activists of the REP trade union across Belarus submitted 17 applications for pickets in support of their organization - and no application was approved. While the law "On Mass Events" allows officials to ban or allow people to publicly express their opinion, it will be impossible to realize freedom of assembly in Belarus - although Belarus has undertaken such obligations by ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Members of the REP union from Mahiliou and the region, having received another refusal, decided to appeal it by the only available means - the collection of signatures.

Here is the full text of the appeal:

"We, the citizens of the Republic of Belarus, protest against the permanent refusals to hold pickets and other mass events by the Mahiliou city executive committee and demand that the decision of the city executive committee dated May 6, 2017 should be abolished, and the committee should be further on guided by Article 35 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights rights, articles 4-6 of the Law "On Mass Events in the Republic of Belarus" when deciding whether to permit the holding of mass events in Mahiliou.

We are in solidarity with the Belarusian Trade Union of Radio Electronic Industry Workers, we demand to stop interference in the internal affairs of the trade union, to stop unreasonable calls of trade union member to investigators as witnesses, to stop the criminal prosecution of trade union leaders Henadz Fiadynich and Ihar Komlik."