Unauthorized picket in the center of Minsk
On 6 December a group of
women who disagree with the court verdicts on the civil and criminal that
concern them and their relatives held an unauthorized picket in Svabody Square
in Minsk.
As stated by lawyer Tamara Siarhei at the picket, the authorities have refused
to restore their rights for several years already. Starting from September 2009
the picket participants have repeatedly addressed the head of the Presidential
Administration Uladzimir Makei with the request to listen to them. ‘However, we
have been always refused. Thus, the authorities refuse not only to solve our
problems, but even to listen to us. According to Article 3 of the Constitution
the authority in Belarus belongs not to officials, but to the Belarusian people,
which has already turned into petitioners who have to beg for the protection of
its rights,’ said the lawyer.
She addressed participants of the All-Belarusian Assembly (an event held by the
country’s authorities in Minsk on 6-7 December) with the request to protect the
rights of the victims, follow the example of Great Britain and establish the
civil commission on review of criminal and civil cases and demand that officers
of the executive committee abided by the Constitution and other laws of
Belarus.
More than 30 people from all parts of Belarus took part in this action. They
held banners with the inscriptions ‘Administration of President of the Republic of Belarus is a solid protection of
lawlessness in the country!’, ‘Mutual protection of officials – violation of rights
of the people!’, ‘We demand that officials abide by the Constitution and the
laws of the country!’.
Officers of secret services in plain clothes watched the picket (that lasted
for about 40 minutes) and shot it with video cameras. Then representatives of the
group of women headed for the Office of Prosecutor General and handed to the
prosecutor an address asking to punish the Deputy Chairperson of the Minsk City
Executive Committee Mikhail Tsitsiankou for an unlawful attempt to hinder the
holding of the picket. The police didn’t let them pass an address to
participants of the All-Belarusian Assembly, signed by more than 60 citizens.
