Court in Brest to Hear Lawsuit against City Government over Ban on Demonstration against Arbitrary Arrests

A hearing is expected to be held in the Leninski District Court in Brest on September 12 to consider a lawsuit filed by 19 local opposition activists against the Brest City Executive Committee over its ban on a demonstration called a “march of petty hooligans” which was scheduled to take place at the city center on July 30.

Among the plaintiffs are members of the Belarusian Popular Front, the United Civic Party, the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Hramada," and the Movement for Freedom in Brest and in the Pruzhany, Pinsk, Malaryta, Byaroza, and Kobryn districts, Raman Kislyak, an initiator of the march, said.

All of them intended to take part in the march, Mr. Kislyak said. The demonstration was supposed to draw opposition activists who were convicted on a charge of “petty hooliganism” (disorderly conduct) under Article 17.1 of the Administrative Offenses Code for, as a rule, allegedly using obscene language. The objective of the march was to protest arbitrary arrests and detentions on trumped-up charges ahead of major political events in the country or the opposition’s mass demonstrations, Mr. Kislyak said.

He submitted his application for permission on July 2. Attached to it was a list of a total of 43 opposition activists who were arrested in the Brest region shortly before a presidential election in 2006, the opposition’s Freedom Day demonstrations on the anniversary of the Belarusian National Republic in 2006, 2007 and 2008, local elections in January 2007, the opposition’s “European March” in Minsk on October 14, 2007, and a demonstration staged in Minsk on April 26, 2008 on the occasion of the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

According to Mr. Kislyak, the regional government banned the march, explaining that the Lakamatyw stadium is the only authorized venue for mass events in the regional capital. //BelaPAN