BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

29/05/2006

Belarus Authorities Launch Court Case to Close Leading Human Rights Group

Belarus' Justice Ministry said Thursday it had asked a court to close down the country's leading human rights groups, the Belarus Helsinki Committee, The Associated Press news agency reports.

The move against the persistent critic of the ex-Soviet nation's authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko follows unprecedented protests against his disputed re-election in March.

In a statement posted on its Web site, the Justice Ministry said it had filed a request at the Supreme Court, requesting that the court order the closure of the Helsinki Committee.

The ministry said the rights group "has been systematically violating Belarussian law and its own charter for a long period of time."

It accused the group of posting unauthorized observers during the 2004 parliamentary elections, occupying office premises reserved for residential housing and committing gross tax violations.

The Helsinki Committee head Tatyana Protko accused Lukashenko's regime of bringing back Stalinist times and said the move was a response to her group's relentless criticism of human rights violations in Belarus.

"The government is trying to destroy the last legal human rights organization in the country. Stalinist times are back in Belarus when they punish you not only for your actions but for your thoughts as well," she told The Associated Press.

Lukashenko, described by Washington as "Europe's last dictator," has been in power in his tightly-controlled nation of 10 million since 1994, cracking down on political dissent and the independent media and squeezing non-governmental groups.

His March re-election was condemned as fraudulent by the opposition and Western governments and his regime was slapped with U.S. and EU sanctions.

Source:

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/05/29/belarushelsinki.shtml