Minsk City Court Upholds Registration Denial to Young Front

On August 17 rejected Minsk City Court a lawsuit filed by the founding committee for a city-level youth organization called Young Front against the Ministry of Justice over a registration denial. The organization was denied registration twice this year, in May and July. The absence of legal status has allowed authorities to prosecute some of its members for ‘acting on behalf of an unregistered organization’. The justice ministry linked its last denial to a clause in Young Front’s charter that allowed foreign citizens to join the organization, which the ministry said would be in violation of regulations governing local-level organizations. ’The court did not take much interest in our charter but rather in the personalities of the founders, who were prosecuted for their opposition activities under the Criminal Code and the Administrative Offenses Code’, Anastasiya Loika, representative of the Malady Front founding committee, commented to BelaPAN. The founding committee now has the right to appeal the city court’s ruling to the Supreme Court of Belarus within 10 days. ‘We are going to do this’, Ms. Loika said.