Belarus's Justice Ministry has denied registration to the Vyasna (Spring) human-rights group, Belapan reported on August 24. The ministry explained in a statement published on its website that the charter of Vyasna does not meet the requirements specified in a law on nongovernmental organizations. In particular, the ministry said the charter "contains vague purposes and implies the opportunity for this nongovernmental organization to act for achieving purposes that are not stated in the charter." The ministry also pointed out that 20 of the 69 founders of Vyasna "have convictions for committing various administrative offenses, with some having five convictions." "This testifies to the fact that the authorities are not ready for dialogue and cooperation with independent civic groups, with human-rights defenders in Belarus," Ales Byalyatski, vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights, told the "Nasha Niva" website (http://www.nn.by). "It was difficult to expect some other outcome [of the registration bid] while there are political trials in the country." JMCopyright (c) 2007. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Published in: Belarusian Authorities Refuse to Register Human Rights Group, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 27 August 2007.