Homel: human rights defenders sue city administration

Homel human rights defenders Leanid Sudalenka and Anatol Paplauny filed a lawsuit to the Tsentralny district court of Homel against the numerous refusals of Homel city executive committee to authorize the meetings, pickets and other mass events that were organized by them, after the authorities banned to them a picket dedicated to the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The authorities justified their denials by telling that organizers of such actions must conclude agreements with the police, medics and cleansing services.

As stated by Sudalenka to RFE/RL, during five years Homel activists haven’t received a single permission for hlding a mass action, though they have filed more than 100 applications. Besides, the human rights defenders draw the attention of the court to the fact that all official actions are held in the center of Homel, while a desolate site near the Culture House Vipra has been determined by the authorities for all opposition’s actions.