Minsk City Executive Committee Prohibits Constituent Assembly of Belarusian Pensioner Association

According to RFE/RL

In his letter Mikhail Piatrushyn, vice-chair of Minsk CEC said he couldn’t permit holding of the constituent assembly of the organization due to absence of the appropriate room for it. Uladzimir Ramanouski, one of the assembly organizers, said Minsk International Educational Center, Sukno Culture Palace and Minsk concert hall refused to rent room for the assembly of the public association of Belarusian Pensioners “Stareishyny” (“Elders”).

Mr. Ramanouski thinks the authorities violated Article #59 of the Belarusian Constitution that obliges state organs to facilitate Belarusian citizens in fulfillment of their rights. In this case it is the right of pensioners to establish their organization.

According to Ramanouski, the authorities treated the association of pensioners (which had about thousand members) immorally. The organizers of the assembly stated it could be held in one of the neighbor countries.