"Civil Initiatives" Under Threat of Closure :: Charter'97 :: News

Gomel region’s largest public association “Civil initiatives” is on the verge of shutdown, reads the statement, circulated by the organization among other public associations of Belarus.

The association, actively engaged in the social and law-enforcement activities, first faced problems on January 29, during the meeting of the organization’s members with the US ambassador in Belarus Michael Kozak and director of section for Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus of the US Department of State Mark Teplin. Soon the organization was visited by the local tax inspectors, who examined its financial condition. That was the ninth inspection, conducted by the controlling bodies over the recent past. Inspectors revealed “insignificant violations”, while the accountant was exposed to 120thsd BLR administrative fine.

The heads of the public association claim that the authorities are blocking their activities namely ahead of the local elections. BelaPAN reports that at the presidential elections 2001 the “Civil initiatives” along with their partners nominated around 700 observers, while this year at the local elections there should be several hundred of them.