Orsha activists to sue district executive committee over picketing

Yury Nahorny and Yauhen Anishchanka filed a complaint in the Courtof Orsha district to challenge the fact that the executive committee banned an event to campaign for the resolution of the town’s most acute problem – repairs of the bridge across the Dnieper.

The picket was scheduled for October 30. Meanwhile the emergency bridge, which was literally falling apart, was still crossed by public ransport. Numerous petitions to the authorities demanding to repaire the bridge did not help, and Yury Nahorny and Yauhen Anishchanka decided to stage a picket to draw public attention to this problem.

However, they received a ban from the authorities. Moreover, a letter signed by the deputy chairman of the executive committee Aleh Smirnouski reached the applicants late. The official banned the picket referring to a decision of the executive committee of Orsha, incidentally, a body that no longer exists, as the town executive committee was long ago merged with the district one.

The decision taken back in 2012 says that the organizers must provide service contracts. This requirement applies to the entire Vitsebsk region. However, according to the organizers, it is contrary to the law on mass gatherings in Belarus and creates a basis for violations of citizens’ rights to public expression.