Hlybokaye activist sues district executive committee over picket ban

Dzmitry Lupach, an activist of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, is appealing a court ban on the rally of solidarity with political prisoners scheduled for November 23. He believes the ban is illegal and asks the court to admit this and to oblige the executive committee to allow the event.

Dzmitry Lupach filed a request to the executive committee to hold a mass rally near the town’s House of Culture, a plaza specifically defined by the authorities for public events. The demonstration was expected to bring together representatives of different political forces of Hlybokaye district: BCD, Narodnaya Hramada, BPF, the Movement “For Freedom”, the campaign “Tell the Truth”.

However, Mr. Lupach received a ban signed by the Chairman of the Executive Committee Aleh Morhkat. The letter said that the executive committee had decided to amend its previous decision concerning the organization of public events, namely to change the location authorized for their conduct. The official says that at the moment the decision in its new edition is undergoing a legal examination in the regional administration of justice, then it should be entered in the register of public acts. And only then, if no other corrections or clarifications are needed, the decision will be published in the local newspaper and will thus enter into force. In the meantime, he says, the activists are not eligible to hold any street events at all.

Local activists say this is an outrage against their rights.

“While the new decision is being approved, the old one should be active. It has not been canceled! There can be no period of "anarchy" and "lawlessness", as the old decision of the executive committee is a legal act. And the implementation of its requirements is mandatory. Including for the executive committee. Otherwise, they violate our rights as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and political Rights, the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus and the law on mass events,” says an activist of “Tell the Truth” and “For Freedom” Yaraslau Bernikovich.

Dzmitry Lupach says he is ready to protect his violated rights in the district court.