Supreme Court upholds registration denial to Movement for Freedom :: Charter'97 :: News

A judge of the Supreme Court on September 20 rejected an appeal against the justice ministry’s refusal to register the Movement for Freedom led by former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich, BelaPAN reported.

The judge took sides with the ministry who claimed that the founders had failed to pay a required fee into the national budget, paying it into the local budget instead.

The plaintiff argued that the founders had paid the fee into the national budget later, adding that anyway, the ministry could have postponed a decision on the registration and given the founders time to make the proper payment. The judge ignored the argument.

Alyaksey Kavalets, a founder, told reporters following the hearing that one could hardly expect judges “installed” by Alyaksandr Lukashenka to give the green light to the registration of an organization that would aim to promote democracy, human rights and political freedoms. He stressed that there was no independent judiciary in the country.

A founding conference for the Movement for Freedom was held in Hrodna on May 20. The justice ministry denied the registration on July 21, citing the improper payment and the non-compliance of the charter’s provisions with the country’s laws. The founders held another founding conference on August 11 and applied to the ministry for registration a month later one more time. The ministry has not yet replied.