On Tuesday 28th October 2003, The Supreme Court of Belarus decided to wind up "Viasna", the association for the defence of human rights, after a four day trial to which the Observatory for the protection of human rights defenders (a joint program of the FIDH and the OMCT) had sent two observers.
A month earlier, the Minister of Justice had called upon the Supreme Court to launch the procedure for winding up the association, accusing it of:
* Having submitted registration documents containing false signatures (violation of article 13 of the Law on Associations, of point 3 of the Presidential Decree of 26th January 1999 and of point 2 of decision no 108 of the Ministry of Justice of 15th May 1995) ;
* Having presented an insufficient number of members (8 instead of 10) for the regional structure of Mogilev (violation of the decision of the Republican Commission for Registration and Re-registration of associations of 24th March 1999) ;
* Having not respected its own statutes by not collecting dues and by not creating a local structure in Minsk (violation of points 3.1, 4.5 and 5.1 of the Viasna statutes, of article 4 of the Law on Associations and of article 48 of the Civil Code) ;
* Having violated electoral regulations by sending observers, not members of the association (decision of the Central Electoral Commission of 8th September 2001) ;
* Having requested permission to give legal defence for persons not members of the association (violation of article 72 of the Code of Civil Procedure, article 22 of the Law on Associations and point 2.1 of the statutes of Viasna).
The court only retained one single charge, that of violation of electoral regulation, of the five charges brought by the Ministry of Justice.
The observers nominated by the Observatory were able to confirm that the principles of right to defence had been respected. Nevertheless, the single judge who constituted the Court, handed down a decision in line with the policy being implemented for several months by the authorities: "Viasna" is in fact the tenth NGO to have been wound up by court action since June 2003.
When the court’s decision was read out, Alès Bielatski, President of the association, Uladzimir Labkovitch and Valiantsin Stefanovitch, the two defenders, as well as five members who had come to support "Viasna" all refused to leave the courtroom. They were arrested by the police and put in detention. They were set free on 29th October but were sentenced to a fine (from 40 to 80 US$) for "refusing to obey an order" (article 166 of the Administrative Code).
"Viasna" representatives decided to lodge a complaint with the President of the Supreme Court, in order to obtain the revision of the liquidation judicial decision.
The Observatory condemns this political decision, which constitutes the unacceptable outcome of the repressive policy being practised against human rights activists, and whose sole aim is to sanction any criticism of the powers that be.
The Observatory expressly requests the Belarus authorities to end this policy of harassment and repression of associations of human rights activists and, in more general terms, to comply with the terms of the Declaration on human rights activists adopted by the General Assembly of United Nations, in particular article 1, "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels".