Homel Dwellers Struggling To Hold Street Rally In Support Of Charter'97

Human rights defenders appealed against the decision of the city executive committee.

On March 7, the court of the Central District of Homel will consider a complaint filed by representative of the independent trade union REP in the region Viktar Kazlou and legal inspector of the trade union Leanid Sudalenka, against the ban of the city executive committee for holding a street rally in support of the independent website Charter97.org, Homel Spring informs.

The independent trade unionists planned to hold the mass event with the aim of drawing the public attention and protesting against the blocking of Charter'97 by the Ministry of Information, as well as a public discussion of the problems related to the freedom of expression in Belarus, on February 17.

The activists consider the prohibition of the street rally illegal.

"The city executive committee did not explain why we can not walk along the Savetskaya Street of the regional center with banners and slogans, as a group of people; and why the applicants for mass events must conclude paid contracts for the event with the medicine and the city's sanitary cleaning service," - Viktar Kazlou draws the court's attention.

He claims that his rights guaranteed by articles 23,33 and 35 of the Constitution, as well as articles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, were violated.

Homel officials refused legal inspector of the REP trade union Leanid Sudalenka permission to conduct a solidarity action on the grounds that in March of last year he was brought to administrative responsibility for "violating the order of organizing and holding a mass event."

"For a long time I planned to start a strategic dispute on such a ban and now I am finally "lucky" to do this," - the lawyer said.

"The ban on organizing a peaceful assembly on the basis of the existence of an administrative sanction, which the Belarusian officials included in the national law, has not yet been considered by the UN Human Rights Committee, in this case the authorities gave us such a chance," - Sudalenka added.