A. Milinkevich to address Ministry of Justice fourth time

Another founding meeting of NGO “Movement for Freedom” took place in Mahiliou.

Its supporters from all over Belarus gathered for the fourth time in order to approve the documents required by the state. Three earlier attempts to register the movement in the Ministry of Justice ended with a failure. 

Alexander Milinkevich points out, it is important for the movement to be registered and act legally:

“We chose that strategy and will continue the attempts until they do everything according to the Constitution. The situation changed significantly. The authorities declare they want to cooperate with Europe; that’s why I think that registration of such NGOs as ours is also a good test for them. If it’s really so, or these are just empty words”.

During the meeting Alexander Milinkevich urged to europeanize Belarus. According to him, Belarus has no alternative to a dialog with Europe. If there is no dialog, we will lose the country, he pointed out. 

Milinkevich also touched upon the issue of criminal persecution of the opposition activists:

“We greet the fact that there are no more political prisoners in Belarus. This fact helps to decrease the level of fear in society. However, one should not forget that the case of fourteen has not been closed yet; and criminal proceedings are started against 18 youth activists who are abroad now”, -- Milinkevich pointed out. 

The Ministry of Justice denied registration three times to the Movement for Freedom. The ministry failed to explain the reasons for denials in July and October 2007. This April they gave the reason. The Ministry had claims to the logo of the association, and to the fact that the movement’s platform, published on Alexander Milinkevich’s web-site, contains points that do not correspond to the statute submitted for registration.