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Belarusian Christian Democracy condemns justice ministry`s decision to suspend consideration of its registration application

Belarusian Christian Democracy (BCD) believes that the justice ministry`s recent decision to suspend the consideration of its registration application for a month was illegal, BCD Executive Secretary Dzyanis Sadowski told reporters in Minsk on January 13.

According to the justice ministry, the process was suspended because the party had ignored its request to submit four additional documents before January 6, Mr. Sadowski said.

On December 20, BCD submitted all documents required by regulations and was under no obligation to do anything else, he stressed.

In particular, “the ministry ordered us to submit a document proving that the owner of the premises who is ready to provide us with a legal address really has the right to rent the premises and provide the address to us, but this question should be posed to the owner, not to us,” Mr. Sadowski said.

The ministry`s decision is even more outrageous considering that the party did send it all the requested documents on January 5, he stressed.

If the ministry does not reverse the decision, Belarusian Christian Democracy will file a suit and complain to international organizations, Mr. Sadowski said.

The justice ministry has denied registration to BCD three times, twice in 2009 and once in 2010. The ministry explained that there was evidence of violations of the procedure in the nomination of delegates to the founding conferences, that false information had been provided about founders, and that some people had been stated as founders without their knowledge. BCD accused authorities of using pressure to make people withdraw their signatures from the list of the party`s founders.

Not a single political party has been registered in Belarus in the last decade. //BelaPAN