BPF Party Got Written Warning from Ministry of Justice

2 July, 2010, the Ministry of Justice of Belarus issued a written warning to the BPF.

As the Ministry’s press service informed, the Ministry "received an appeal of a member of the BPF Party’s Audit Commission that contained information about a number of violations of the requirements of the statute and the legislation committed by the governing body (Sojm) of the BPF Party during the preparation of the Extraordinary XIII Convention".

After reviewing the submitted documents, the Ministry of Justice concluded that the decision to hold the XIII Convention of the Party "violated a basic principle of the work of political parties established by the Law of the Republic of Belarus ‘On Political Parties’ – the principle of democracy – as well as the Party’s own charter". In particular, "a procedure for nomination of delegates to the congress was established, according to which a significant number of delegates wasn’t to be elected, but appointed".

"The Ministry of Justice has recognized the extraordinary XIII Congress of the BPF of May 29, 2010 as illegitimate, and its decisions as powerless", the press-service informed. In this regard, "a written warning was issued to the political party".

"I am sure this decision is not connected with the violation of the Belarusian laws", the BPF Party leader Alyaksey Yanukevich said to the news portal www.UDF.BY. "It is connected with the upcoming presidential elections. This warning is another step in "tightening the screws."

The politician confirmed that the fact of such an appeal to the Ministry of Justice by one of the members of the Party’s Audit Commission really took place, but he personally did not know "any member of the party who would approve this request to the Ministry of Justice".

However, according to the leader of the BPF, the appeal of the member of the Audit Commission gave only a reason to the registering office to issue a written warning: "I am convinced that, if not now, the party would still get a warning later, because today the Ministry of Justice is a punitive body, same as KGB", said the politician. Such a conclusion was made based on the fact that the Ministry of Justice does prosecute objectionable organisations and does not register new public initiatives.

Mr. Yanukevich reported that after consultations the BPF Party would most likely appeal to the Supreme Court with a suit to cancel the written warning: "We fully understand that our judicial system is not objective, but to fight for one’s rights is still necessary".

It should be recalled that a member of the Audit Commission of the BPF Party Uladzimir Maley sent an appeal to the Ministry of Justice in which he asked to give a legal assessment of compliance of the decision of the Sojm to the Party Charter. June 12, 2010, Uladzimir Maley was expelled from the party "for systematic actions that disgrace the honour and dignity of the members of the BPF Party" by the decision of the Sojm.