Minsk City Economic Court to hear suit against Union of Belarusian Writers on February 15 :: Charter'97 :: News

A hearing will be held in the Minsk City Economic Court on February 15 to try a suit of the Presidential Administration`s property management department against the Union of Belarusian Writers (UBW). The date was set during a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.

The Presidential Administration wants the association to either vacate the House of Writers in central Minsk or pay 55 million rubels in back rent payments and move to other rooms in the building. The UBW says that the offered rooms are very small.

After the Presidential Administration took control of the building in 1997, it ordered the Union to start paying rent. The lease contract expired several years ago without being renewed.

The Union, which was stripped of government support in 2001, refuses to pay rent. It argues that the House of Writers was built partly with writers’ royalties.

Judge Vasily Danilyuk proposed on Tuesday that the sides settle the dispute outside court. If they fail to do this, they will have to present official papers substantiating their arguments at the February 15 hearing, he said.

Yelena Malaya of the property management department said that “since the defendant did not want to sign a new lease contract,” the Administration had to pay the Union’s utility bills during three years. The UBW is the only non-governmental organization in the country that cannot reach an agreement with the property management department on their relations, she said.

UBW executive officer Anatoly Ivashchenko told the judge that the association was ready to start talks to reach a compromise.