Appeal to Those Who Are with Us
The last two months were a real cross for the Human Rights Center “Viasna”. We are grateful to those who morally supported us in this time, from the time when we received the suit from the Ministry of Justice till the court sittings on liquidation of the organization and the trials of “Viasna” members who expressed their protest against the groundless decision of the court.
Members of “Viasna” felt the great attention of Belarusian citizens, organizations, journalists and the international community. We received many letters in our support, listened to words of solidarity and indignation with the actions of the authorities who decided to deprive Belarusian citizens of real help and human rights defenders – of the constitutionally guaranteed right to association and expression of their views.
The trial of “Viasna” was an eloquent manifestation of absence of independent court system in Belarus. “Viasna” liquidation brought our the will of the authorities to control the public activity and stop the existence of the human rights organization that during the seven years of its existence stated about gross violations of human rights.
Having decided to liquidate “Viasna” only for the independent monitoring of the Presidential election of 2001 the authorities also clearly showed that they didn’t want any public control of the upcoming electoral campaigns (Parliamentary election and possible referendum on introduction of changes into the Constitution).
Now we state: “Viasna” doesn’t stop its existence with the liquidation of its registration by the Ministry of Justice and will continue its activity in every respect. We will be continue drawing the attention of Belarusian and international community to human rights violations in Belarus.
We again express our gratitude to all those, who supported us in these hard times, sent letters of protest to State bodies and institutions, protested against the lawless court decision, attended the court sittings and distributed information about the fate of “Viasna”.
We are sure that together we can change the situation in the country and build the Belarus where human rights are respected, people are judged objectively and electoral votes are not stolen.
6 November 2003
