Constitutional Court reluctant to consider revocation of Article 193-1

In December 2009 Kiryl Atamanchyk, activist of the Young Front youth movement, lodged an address with the Constitutional Court, urging the officials to provide legal assessment of the compliance of Article 193-1 of the Criminal Code with Article 36 of the Belarusian Constitution and Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

‘On 28 January 2010 I received a run-around reply from the Belarusian Constitutional Court signed by the Court’s head of secretariat Mr. Yuraha, denying my right to appeal to the Constitutional Court’, says Mr. Atamanchyk.

‘Appeals for inspecting legal acts for their compliance with the Constitution can only be lodged by the President of Belarus, the House of Representatives, the Council of the Republic, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Economic Court and the Council of Ministers. Other individuals can only appeal to the above-listed bodies of power,’ says the official letter.

‘I think that the secretariat is not authorized to deny me my Constitutional right to appeal to state bodies’, says the youth activist.

According to Kiryl Atamanchyk, he is going to appeal the official’s reply.

The activist has already submitted a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee, reporting about the violation of his right to the freedom of association by the Republic of Belarus.