Justice Ministry accused BHC of libel

• 4.08.2011, 15:42

The Justice Ministry of Belarus swears that they had never even thought of depriving lawyers Hanna Bakhtsina and Darya Lipkina of their licenses…

…However, they promise to deal with the lawyers.

Officials were indignant at the address of human rights activists to the UN. Human rights activists complained about repressions of the Justice Ministry against lawyers of political prisoners.

The Justice Ministry claims they had not disbarred Hanna Bakhtsina and Darya Lipkina yet: “In reality, these persons have necessary licenses and carry out activities as lawyers. Disbarring them is not on the agenda.”

Officials have also problems with unregistered organizations who had signed the address.

“Only two public associations are regisetered in Belarus: the Republican human rights association “Belarusian Helsinki Committee” and the Public Association “Center on Human Rights.” Under Article 7 Part 2 of the Law “On Public Associations” the other three organizations do not have a right to act on the territory of Belarus, as they are unregistered or liquidated by judicial procedure,” the statement reads.

The statement has been published on www.minjust.by, the official page of the ministry. By the way, this site itself blatantly violates the regulations of the laws currently in force. According to the resolution of the Council of Ministers #645 of April 29, 2010 “state institutions register domain names in the zones gov.by and mil.by”