Supreme Court upholds ruling on Tell the Truth

The Supreme Court of Belarus has dismissed the complaint from Tell the Truth Campaign about Ministry of Justice's refusal to register the organisation.

The decision was made by judge Valiantsina Kulik on August 7. The Ministry of Justice explained the refusal with two “non-correctable” violations, BelaPAN news agency reports.

One of the violations is the out-of-date guarantee letter on giving the registered address, the Ministry of Justice says. Representatives of the campaign Tell the Truth claim the letter was valid on the day of submitting documents to the Ministry (May 8). “Its period of validity expired on May 31, but the Ministry of Justice delayed the reply and then said we don't have the registered address. We could have brought them a new letter of guarantee at any moment,” campaign activist Siarhei Vazniak said.

The second alleged violation is ridiculous, Vazniak says. “The ministry claims we didn't define the number of members of the board. But we have five members of the board. Their names were in the documents. This is not a violation,” he stressed.

Tell the Truth civil campaign held the founding meeting in Minsk on April 12. The meeting gathered 60 delegates from Minsk and regions. Poet Uladzimir Niakliaeu, a 2010 presidential candidate, was elected chair of the campaign and Andrei Dzmitryeu was elected deputy chair.

The aim of the organisation is “building a democratic law-bound social state in Belarus, developing civil society and economy, strengthening patriotic tradition of Belarusians”.

It has been the third attempt to register Tell the Truth civil campaign.