Human rights activists: deputies of the House of Representatives lacked political will

Deputies of the House of Representatives lacked political will to liquidate article #193-1 of the Criminal Code. The article ensures responsibility for acting on behalf of an unregistered organization. It was started at a round-table discussion in Minsk. Let us remind you that 17 people were imprisoned according to this article in 2006. Human rights activists think that it is a discriminating article violating citizens’ constitutional rights for the freedom of assembly.

According to a human rights activist Valyantsin Stefanovich, the round table was organized on the first working day after the last session of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus. “We really hoped that deputies would accept amendments to the Criminal Code and liquidate the article. Unfortunately, it did not happen”, - said Stefanovich.

The leader of a human rights organization “Belarusian Helsinki committee” Aleh Hulak stressed that the existence of such an article in the Criminal Code contradicted international human rights treaties and the Belarusian Constitution too. At the same time he stressed that Belarus was the only post Soviet state having criminal responsibility for acting on behalf of an unregistered organization, informs BelaPAN.