Tatsyana Pratsko: BHC’s Lawsuit May be Resumed at Any Moment :: Charter'97 :: News

The ministry of justice applied to the Supreme Court of Belarus for suspending the lawsuit on termination of the “Belarusian Helsinki Committee” public association activities. It is to be mentioned that the human rights defenders were blamed of non-payment of taxes within the frame of the TACIS assistance program. That resulted in economic sanctions and additional payments over Br 155 million imposed on the association.

In February 2006 the ministry of justice forwarded a written warning to the BHC and demanded to remove the legislation violations. A corresponding lawsuit was brought to the court. Meanwhile, the BHC pled it was not guilty and that was confirmed by the inspection of the Committee of the State Control.

Which judgment is to be considered true? The legal collision occurred, which was to be decided by the court and the BHC appealed to the court for a corresponding solution. But the court preferred to avoid the judgment and proposed to terminally suspend the BHC activities that are extraordinary for the Belarusian justice.

How is their current position estimated by the human rights defenders themselves?

-- Everything remains at the same level. We submitted the papers confirming that we didn’t have any tax debts. We were not guilty. That paper was submitted to us by the Committee of the State Control where the criminal case had been twice investigated, chairman of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Tasmania Presto said in her interview with to the Polish Radio.

-It means, the Committee of the State Control admitted your rightness didn’t it?

-Yes, it did and added that we were not to pay any taxes and the court faced the alternative: to admit the rightness either of the Committee of the State Control or the tax inspection. But it simply ignored the lawsuit. All the terms expired and the court itself became the legislation violator. Then the court started forcing the ministry of justice to settle the issue anyway. The ministry of justice inferred to us that if we took the claim aside they would positively respond to it.

-But in the case the association will appear in the suspended position, won’t it?

-Yes, it will. The case may be resumed at any moment; that does not mean a true solution of the problem.

-It happened when the association got the chances to return its good name and prove it innocence before the law….

-Yes, we were on the right side in this case.

According to Tatsyana Pratsko there is another ground for the made decision. The Council of Ministers of Belarus must answer to the European Commission on the cases concerning the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the “Social Novatia” public organization. And such incidents are to occur to 37 other organizations because the corresponding grant was received by the BHC within the program of the civil society support in Belarus, which comprised 39 organizations. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee is fighting the problems, which it faced after the inspection. But regular inspections are going to be conducted in all organizations.

-The situation is not as simple as that. It is under the control of the European Union and it submitted another time the letter to the Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Kabyakou where they asked Belarus to confirm exercising of its obligations. We also applied to the Council of Ministers and were also given no reply, Tatsyana Pratsko reported.

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee has remained the only registered human rights organization in Belarus. Legal activities of human rights defenders, according to Tatsyana Pratsko, are especially important.

-The interest paid to our problem helps us considerably. We feel support and believe that our activities are important. When people appeal to us they complain of the violation of their rights. But it is the state that can restore their rights. Our legal status allows us to appeal to the officials for solving the problems, the human rights defender said.