Supreme Court upholds registration denial for Milinkevich’s Movement for Freedom
- 7.08.2008, 18:24
The Supreme Court of Belarus has upheld the justice ministry’s denial of state registration for the Movement for Freedom led by former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich.
The justice ministry denied registration to the Movement in June for the third time.
As Yury (Yuras) Hubarevich, deputy chairman of the organization, told BelaPAN, an official of the ministry explained in a letter that an analysis of speeches and statements by Mr. Milinkevich and other members of the organization showed that the real purposes of the Movement were inconsistent with those stated in the charter. “The official insists that the real purposes of the Movement are political, whereas the charter defines it as a human rights organization, and the real purposes do not meet the requirements of regulations,” Mr. Hubarevich said.
According to him, the Supreme Court dismissed these grounds but still upheld the registration denial because it found flaws in documents drawn up by the person who provided an office to the Movement so that it would have a legal address as required by regulations for obtaining state registration. “That is, that the Court found the ministry wrong in all other respects,” Mr. Hubarevich said.
“We’ll continue our attempts to obtain legal status with a view to showing our intention to act within the bounds of law,” he stressed, adding that the Movement would keep holding founding conferences and apply for registration for ever and ever.
The justice ministry received the founders’ third application for registration on March 10 and, under regulations, should have made its decision no later than April 10. In late April, ministry officials explained to Mr. Milinkevich that the ministry was delaying its decision because it had found flaws in the logo of the Movement and because the organization’s manifesto posted on its Web site contained paragraphs that ran counter to its charter submitted to the ministry.
The organization was requested to correct the flaws within a month, which gave Mr. Milinkevich grounds to hope for a favorable decision. “This time we are not just told to read laws,” he then told BelaPAN. “This was the case before and we just didn’t know what we should correct. Now we have been given specific proposals about what must be changed and a deadline for this. I guess we are on track to obtain legal status and registration for the Movement for Freedom.”
After the justice ministry rejected the organization’s first application in July 2007, citing alleged flaws in the organization’s charter as the grounds, Mr. Milinkevich and his supporters held a new founding conference on the territory of a children’s summer camp near Zaslawye, Minsk district, on August 11. At that conference, with 72 people from across Belarus in attendance, Mr. Milinkevich was elected chairperson, and Viktar Karnyayenka and Mr. Hubarevich were elected deputy chairpersons.
In late October, the justice ministry rejected the organization’s second registration application, insisting that the founding conference was in fact an unsanctioned open-air rally.
In December, the Supreme Court upheld the registration denial.