Heroes Of "Non-Parasites March" Reply Tough To Belarusian Authorities

Six Mogilev residents backed up their demands by appealing to the UN.

It will take a long time for the decision of the UN Human Rights Committee to be delivered, but this decision will be in favor of citizens, the human rights activist Barys Bukhel said, the Mahiliou based HRC Viasna reports.

Six Mahiliou residents, who participated in the protests in the spring of 2017, responded to "remarks" of the Belarusian authorities in the UN Human Rights Committee.

Alena Kisel, Alena Kren, Kanstantsin Charnou, Aliaksandr Karankevich, Dzianis Kraitsau and Pavel Kraitsau complained to the UN Human Rights Committee in December 2017, saying that the Belarusian courts unjustly punished them with fines for participating in peaceful assemblies.

In response, the permanent mission of Belarus at the UN office in Geneva expressed dissatisfaction with the complaints. Belarusian diplomats said that the Mahiliou residents "abused" the right to appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee. They also reported that each of those convicted for taking part in the protest rallies "didn't consider" the possibility of applying to the prosecutor's office.

Human rights activist Barys Bukhel helped each of the six people formulate their objections to the authorities' response:

– As for the prosecutor's office: the UN Human Rights Committee has repeatedly stressed that a supervisory review of a judicial act, which has survived in some former USSR countries, is not recognized as effective means of legal defense, – Bukhel said.

Only a cassation complaint entails a review of the case in the established manner. And, according to the human rights activist, each of six people has already passed this stage.

Bukhel drew attention to the fact that the UN has repeatedly pointed out to the Belarusian authorities on the need to bring legislation on the freedom of peaceful assembly to compliance with international norms. However, the dictator, the government and the "parliament" of Belarus ignore these instructions.

– Now we have to wait two or three, maybe four years, until the Human Rights Committee makes its decision. As past experience of all those, who appealed to the HRC with such complaints, shows, the decision will be positive,– the human rights activist said.