Supreme Court Rejected Complaint of Belarusian Language Society

According to RFE/RL

Two days were enough for Halina Zhukouskaia, judge of the Supreme Court, to find groundless the complaint of Frantsishak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society against the warning, issued by the Ministry of Justice for registration of three units of the organization in private apartments.

BSL disagrees with the warning, because it registered its units on written agreement of Iury Varantsou, who was the justice minister in 2000. The text of the agreement was read aloud at the trial. It allowed to the appropriate state organs to register structures of public organizations and parties in flats. What concerned the demands of the Housing Code not to use the apartments for other purposes than living there, the minister referred that in certain cases there could be some exceptions.

However, not only the former authorities of the ministry had normal attitude to such order of registration. At the trial BSL representatives read aloud a letter Uladzimir Halavanau, present justice minister, dated 2004. This letter, addressed to some political parties, recognized the registration of their units in private flats. In less than a year it appeared to be prohibited.

Aleh Trusau, BSL chair, said: -- After the referendum it was decided to liquidate public organizations and structures. They found a formal reason for it. First of all it was allowed to register in private flats, and then we were told to leave them. When public organizations want to find new addresses, they aren’t given any variants, which we proved in the court. So, that’s how the whole third sector is liquidated. It all demonstrates the situation in our country after the October’s referendum.