Belarusian Christian Democracy denied registration again

The Belarusian Christian Democracy party has been denied state registration for the fourth time straight, said Minister of Justice Aleh Slizheuski at a press-conference on 19 January.

According to Aleh Slizheuski, the BCD’s application featured a number of irregularities, including those in the lists of the party’s co-founders and in the BCD’s charter. “Considering this, according to the legislation, the Ministry of Justice had to order dismissal of the BCD’s application”, Mr. Slizheuski says as quoted by the BelTA government news agency.

On 11 January, the leaders of the Belarusian Christian Democracy received a letter from the Ministry of Justice dated 6 January saying that the party’s registration procedures had been suspended for a month to reportedly re-check the submitted papers. Meanwhile, on 13 January, the BCD’s Secretary Dzianis Sadouski said that the party’s co-founders came under unprecedented pressure from the law enforcement agencies, with over 20 incidents of harassment and threats reported to have been used against those who announced their affiliation to the opposition movement.