Helsinki Committee: Repressive “politically motivated” article still exist

• 22.08.2008, 13:00

There are still citizens repressed on political grounds, and an article of the Criminal Code envisaging imprisonment for “activities on behalf of an unregistered organisation” continues to exist.

The public association “Belarusian Helsinki Committee” welcomes release of political prisoners Alyaksandr Kazulin, Syarhei Parsyukevich and Andrei Kim. However, human rights activists note that the verdict in the Process of Fourteen, according to which young activists had been sentenced to different terms of restriction of freedom and to a fine.

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee believes that criminal persecution and sanctions against persons involved in the case of Fourteen, are obviously disproportional to the actions committed and to their consequences. Along with the developments of the preliminary investigation and trial, it shows that the verdict was politically motivated. The BHC urges competent Belarusian judicial authorities to review the case.

According to the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, the main reason for such kind of trials is imperfectness of the Belarusian law on mass events, which contradicts the Constitution of the country and international commitments, as well as the repressive nature of the criminal legislation in this area.

Besides, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee once again attracts attention to the fact that Article 193-1 of the Criminal Code of Belarus contradicts Constitution. It allows criminal sanctions against self-organizing people whose activities are not aimed at harming state or public security, violation of the public order or infringement of freedoms and rights of other persons.

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee urges the Belarusian regime to bring the national legislation and practices in line with the Constitution and c=international commitments in order to guarantee citizens a chance to exercise their rights.