Salihorsk authorities put a veil of secrecy over the regulation limiting right to peaceful assembly

An attempt of Salihorsk human rights defenders to obtain from the local authorities a copy of the regulation which restricts the freedom of peaceful assembly, brought no results.

The activists were not allowed to hold a picket on Human Rights Day on the basis of the regulation of Salihorsk District Executive Committee №700 «On measures to prevent accidents and ensure the rule of law during mass events".

Leanid Markhotka, representative of the Belarusian Hrlsinki Committee in Salihorsk district, told us about his attempt to familiarize with this regulation:

“The main ideologist of the Salihorsk District Executive Committee Mikalai Maskevich explained the decision to ban the picket by the regulation he, apparently, he had never seen himself. During
our yesterday's telephone conversation about the possibility of getting a copy of this document, Mr. Maskevich was doing his best to evade from presenting a copy of this paper.

He promised to issue me with a copy of the document in a few days. When the human rights activist objected that making a copy would take a few second, Mikalai Maskevich replied that several days are needed to find the document in the archive of the executive committee. I don't think this official knows the document by heart,” ironically comments Leanid Markhotka. “In the end, he agreed to give me a copy, but when I came to the executive committee, the situation has changed. The ideologist shook the prepared paper in front of my nose and proposed to read it aloud, but blankly refused to issue me with a copy of this paper. However, I can read on my own and came to get a copy of the document.

The activist intends to appeal such inappropriate actions of the chief ideologist, who made a secret from a public decision of Salihorsk DEC, at court, and would try to eventually get familiarized with the restrictive regulation of the district authorities.