Baranavichy human rights defender: city authorities lie on reasons for picket ban

Human rights defender Siarhei Housha has received a reply from the Baranavichy City Executive Committee, signed by the Deputy Chairman Dzmitry Kastsiukevich, to his letter, in which he asked to specify the reason for the ban on a picket scheduled for July 27. The official said that the picket, which was expected to mark the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 27, was banned because the applicant had not submitted in due time copies of contracts with the City Department of Internal Affairs, the city clinic and the Spetsautabaza enterprise, who were supposed to service the planned picket.

“That’s not true. We actually filed an application a month before July 27 and later filed copies of contracts with city government agencies on the services of our event, as it took a lot of time to visit all the agencies and sign such agreements. But we submitted the necessary documents 15 days before the planned picket, and the city authorities had no legal basis to ban our mass event,” said Siarhei Housha.

The human rights activist is going to appeal the ban to the Brest Regional Executive Committee.