Belarusian Helsinki Committee
The Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC; Belarusian: РПГА «Беларускі Хельсінкскі Камітэт» (БХК)) is a non-governmental human rights organization established in 1995 and in 2007 was the sole remaining independent human rights group in Belarus,[1] apart from Viasna Human Rights Centre. Its goal is protection of human rights in Belarus in accordance with the Helsinki Accords.
The government fined the organization $73,000 for allegedly unpaid taxes on money received via European Union Programme grants (2003, overruled by the Supreme Court in 2004) and brought criminal proceedings against officials of the organization, including its chairman .[2]
In 2021, when the regime of Alexander Lukashenko started Attacks on journalists and censorship|nationwide repressions against the independent media and human rights defendants, BHC became one of the targets. Its office was raided several times, then sealed by the police. The Justice Ministry requested documents, that were kept in the inaccessible office, and issued a warrant on the same day as the request. Two warrants in a year allow the Ministry to initiate liquidation process.[3][4][5][6]
See also[]
Literature[]
- Silitski, Vitali; Zaprudnik, Jan (2010). The A to Z of Belarus (The A to Z Guide Series). Lanham: Scarecrow Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-8108-7200-4.
References[]
- ^ "Belarus: Threat to Close Lone Human Rights Group". Human Rights Watch. 2007-01-31. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
- ^ "Belarusian Helsinki committee is under threats of being closed". Human Rights House Network. 23 February 2006.
- ^ "Report analyses Lukashenko's year-old crackdown on Belarusian journalists". Reporters without borders. 2021-08-05. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
- ^ "Belarusian Police Target Vyasna, Other NGOs With Raids". Radio Liberty. 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
- ^ "Rights groups raided as Belarus pursues crackdown". France24. 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
- ^ "Белорусские правозащитники получили предупреждение Минюста" [Belarusian Human Rights Defendants Receive Warrant from Justice Ministry] (in Russian). TASS. 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
External links[]
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