English

Brest government bans demonstration in support of political prisoners

The Brest City Executive Committee has rejected an application for permission to demonstrate to demand the release of the political prisoners in Belarus.

The demonstration was to be staged in Internationalist Soldiers Park on August 10.

In its reply to the applicant, human rights defender Uladzimir Vyalichkin, the city government says that the venue will be unavailable because Construction Worker Day celebrations will take place there at the scheduled time of the event, according to human rights website www.spring96.org.

Mr. Vyalichkin said that he would demand access to the list of events scheduled to take place in Internationalist Soldiers Park this year. This is not the first demonstration banned by the Brest government under the pretext that its venue has already been booked for another event, he explained.

The authorities of 10 Belarusian cities rejected applications for permission to stage demonstrations on August 4 in support of political prisoners. // BelaPAN