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Rights defenders in Brest, Baranavichy denied permission to demonstrate for release of Ales Byalyatski

 

Human rights activists in Brest and Baranavichy have been denied permission to stage demonstrations in the cities on August 4 to mark the second anniversary of the arrest of Ales Byalyatski, chairman of a Belarusian human rights organization called Vyasna (Spring) and vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights.

Uladzimir Vyalichkin planned to stage a one-man demonstration in a public park in Brest from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., but the city government has denied permission, explaining that he failed to sign contracts with appropriate agencies for the presence of an ambulance and police at the venue of the demonstration and a cleanup at the site after the event.

“I believe such requirements for a one-man demonstration are excessive and the ban is unfounded,” Mr. Vyalichkin told BelaPAN, adding that he would appeal the ban to court.

The Baranavichy City Executive Committee has explained to Viktar Syrytsa of the Movement for Freedom and local human rights activist Syarhey Howsha that they are denied permission because they planned to demonstrate in a wrong place.

“We applied for permission to demonstrate in Lenin Square to draw the attention of as many people as possible, especially considering the fact that authorities usually hold their ‘mass events’ there,” Mr. Syrytsa told BelaPAN. “It does not make sense to demonstrate in the old park on Kamsamolskaya Street that the city government has designated as the only place for demonstrations. There are almost no people there.”

“Although we believe that the ban infringes on our rights, we will not appeal it to court because this would be to no avail,” Mr. Syrytsa said. //BelaPAN