Center Of Civil Initiatives Liquidated In Brest :: Charter'97 :: News

Brest regional court has satisfied the petition of the Justice department of the regional executive committee and ruled to liquidate the center of civil initiatives “Vezha” (the “Tower”). The representatives of the third sector view this ruling as another example of the pressure campaign that Belarusian government unleashed against non-state organizations of the country.

According to the petition of the justice department, last year “Vezha” received two warnings related to the activities that, as said by the lawyers of the authorities, disagree with the objectives declared in the statutes of the center. First warning was connected with carrying out an opinion poll before the presidential elections; the Justice department considers that “Vezha” had no right for that.

The second warning was issued because the center uses in its title the word “Berastsejsky” instead of “Brestsky” (as in the ‘Soviet’ russified version of the Belarusian language which seems more welcome to the authorities), and the name of the street the “Savetskih pamezhnikau” (the Street of Soviet frontier guards) (instead of the russified Belarusian “Savetskih pahranichnikau”).

Another accusation concerns the bulletins published by the Center. It reported about the activities of the oppositional organizations such as the Brest branch of the Yong Front, of the association “Dzedzich”, and of the public “Law Consulting Room”. The department of Justice believes it is illegal to inform about unregistered or unlicensed organizations.

“Vezha” representatives are set to appeal against this ruling.