Vitsebsk activists applied for authorization of tree pickets dated to anniversary of Chernobyl accident

Yan Dziarzhautsau, a member of the Conservative-Christian Party Belarusian Popular Front, applied to Kastrychnitski District Executive Committee with an application for the authorization of a picket on 26 April. Earlier, two similar applications were filed by the head of Vitsebsk regional branch of the Belarusian Popular Front Leanid Autukhou and the head of the regional branch of the "For Freedom" movement Khrystafor Zhaliapau.

According to Yan Dziarzhautsau, who applied for holding a picket in Mazuryn Park, the aim of the action is not only to commemorate Chernobyl victims but also to express protest against the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Astravets.

All three pickets are dated to the 27th anniversary of the accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Vitsebsk democratic activists intend to hold them in the places which were officially determined as suitable for such actions by the district administrations. Meanwhile, during the recent years the authorities haven't permitted any mass events, including those dedicated to Chernobyl. At the same time, there are many liquidators of the consequences of the accident who live in Vitsebsk region and people who moved there from the polluted areas.

The usual pretext for the refusals to authorize such actions was the failure of the organizers to present service agreements with the public utilities, ambulance and police. The latter institutions use various techniques to evade from concluding such agreements with the activists, and the city authorities continue violating freedom of peaceful assemblies by banning all events organized by civil and political activists.