Justice Ministry seeks to close down one of the oldest socio-political associations in Belarus
The Supreme Court of Belarus has brought a suit over the appeal of the Justice Ministry seeking liquidation of the public association BPF “Adradzhennie”. A preliminary meeting of the parties to the case is scheduled for August 20, the organization reports.
According to Vadzim Saranchukou, vice-chairperson of the BPF, who acted as the organization’s head during the imprisonment of Ryhor Kastusiou, the reason for the liquidation suit was non-compliance with a written warning, allegedly issued to the association on July 14. The BPF branch says they had received no warning.
On 14 July, law enforcers broke into the BPF office, where the BPF and the NGO “Adradzhenne” are situated. After that, the BPF office was sealed by the Investigative Committee and the employees of the organization had no access to the documents.
The BPF considers the suit to liquidate the public structure of the BPF as part of the campaign announced by the authorities to purge civil society.
“Over the last year, BPF has been living in a state of permanent inspections by the registering bodies. Both the central office and the local ones are being checked. When calls for the destruction of civil society organizations were heard from high tribunes, it was only a matter of time before the BPF received a liquidation suit. I emphasize that currently, we are not talking about the liquidation of the BPF party – a claim has been filed to eliminate only the movement, the BPF public association “Adradzhennie,” said Vadim Saranchukou.
The public association “Adradzhenne” is one of the oldest socio-political associations in Belarus. It was founded in 1988 at a meeting of the organizing committee of the BPF in Minsk. The organization was registered in 1991 and called the Belarusian Popular Front “Adradzhenne” until 1999.
The organization has 2,059 members, including the Minsk city office and 4 regional offices, 10 district and 5 city branches.
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