Justice Ministry Suspended Registration Of Belarusian Christian Democratic Party

The organizing committee for registration of the Belarusian Christian Democratic Party believes that in this way the Belarusian regime is temporizing until the total lifting of the EU sanctions since February 1.

The letter from the Justice Ministry, received by the leadership of the organizing committee for creation of the BCD Party, writes about the suspension of registration, the website of the BCD informs.

According to the letter, the registration is suspended taking into account the fact that the Justice Ministry needs additional documents in order for a decision to be made.

“It is obvious that the regime is expecting lifting of the visa limitations and needs to play for time, to freeze the situation with the registration of the BCD – the statement of the press-service of the organising committee for BCD registration reads. – The decision has been postponed till February, when the EU plans to deal with the issue of the sanctions against representatives of authority in Belarus.”

The organizing committee of the BCD believes that the Justice Ministry does not have legal grounds to postpone or suspend registration of the party.

The founding congress of the party was held on December 12 in Minsk, and the documents for registration were forwarded to the Justice Ministry on December 24.

Earlier the BCD organizing committee had been denied registration of the party five times. The first founding congress of the party was held in 2009, and two more were held in 2010. The fourth attempt to register the party took place in December 2011, and the fifth congress was held on June 13, 2015. Among the reasons of the last non-registration named by the Justice Ministry were withdrawals of two signatures of the party founders, and minor inaccuracies, which could not bring into question registration of the political party, as representatives of the BCD believe.

It should be noted that many times Christian Democrats in Belarus tried to be registered as different kinds of regional and national public associations.

Earlier the Christian Democrats stated that they planned to apply for being listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the number of registration denials.

In March 2011 in an interview to The Washington Post Aliaksandr Lukashenka stated that the BCD “would be never registered probably.” “They have been taking part in unrest. They are not Christian Democrats, they are bandits,” – the dictator stated.