Vera
Stremkovskaya, a well known
human rights activist and lawyer was forbidden from leaving Belarus in order
to attend an international conference organised by the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), dedicated to the “Role of defence
lawyers in guaranteeing a fair trial”, on November 3 and 4, 2005, in Tsibili,
Georgia. She had planned to make an intervention on the need to change
legislation in Belarus for the independence of lawyers and court system on
this occasion.
On October 28, 2005, this interdiction was notified to Mrs. Stremkovskaya
after that she asked the Minsk Bar Association the authorisation to travel
abroad from November 2 to 5, 2005, as requested by Belarusian law, which
foresees that lawyers have to ask in advance for days-off in order to go out
of the country. On that day, Mr. A.V. Gambolevsky, deputy chairman of the
Minsk Bar Association, issued an order prohibiting her to leave the country,
in which he precised that his refusal was linked with “the possible need of
extra lawyers in big criminal cases in other regions of Belarus”.
The Observatory fears that this measure be aimed at sanctioning Mrs.
Stermkovskaya’s activities in favour of the independence of the judiciary in
Belarus. In this regard, the Observatory notes that this is not the first
time that Mrs. Stremkovskaya is prevented from leaving the country. Indeed,
on December 2002, after she had made statements during an OSCE meeting in
Warsaw, Poland, in which she denounced human rights violations in Belarus,
Mr. Gambolevsky had already prohibited her to go to Seoul, South Korea, in
order to participate in an international conference on democracy. The legal
grounds of this refusal were that “Mrs. Stremkovskaya ha[d] travelled
enough”. In 2001, she had been subjected to harassment from the Ministry of
Justice, linked with her activities of defence of political opponents (See
Annual Report 2001 of The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders, ).
The restriction on Mrs.
Stremkovskaya’s freedom of movement is a violation of the Declaration on
Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9,
1998, in particular of its article 5 (c), which states that “for the purpose
of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone
has the right, individually and in association with others, at national and
international levels (...) to communicate with non-governmental or
intergovernmental organisations”, article 6 (b) regarding the right “to
freely publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and
knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms”, and article 6(c)
with respect to the right “to study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the
observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental
freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public
attention to those matters”.
Action
requested :
Please write to the Belarusian
authorities and urge them to:
i. Put an end to all forms of harassment and restrictions on Mrs.
Stremkovskaya, as well as on all human rights defenders in Belarus, and
guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders and organisations
are able to carry out their work, including through participation in
international human rights events;
ii. Conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders,
in particular its article 1, which states that “every person has the right,
individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of
human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international
level”, as well as the above-mentioned articles 5 and 6;
iii. Conform with the provisions of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of
the Conference on the Human Dimension of the Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), in particular article 9.1, which provides that
“everyone will have the right to freedom of expression including the right to
communication. This right will include freedom to hold opinions and to
receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public
authorities and regardless of frontiers”, and article 9.5, which stipulates
that “the participating States reaffirm that they will respect the right of
everyone to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his
country, consistent with a State’s international obligation s and CSCE
commitments”;
iv. Guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in
accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other
international instruments ratified by Belarus.
Addresses
:
- Mr. Aleksander
Lukashenko, President of Belarus; Fax (+375 17) 2260610
- Mr. Sergei
Sidorsky, Prime Minister ; Fax (+375 17) 22 26 665
- Mr. Viktor
Golovanov, Minister of Justice ; Fax(+375 17) 20 08 687
- Mr. Pyotr
Miklashevich, General Prosecutor ; Fax (+375 17) 20 65 727
- Ambassador
Sergei Aleinik, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Belarus to the
United Nations in Geneva, 15 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 20,
Switzerland, Email: mission.belarus@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 748 24 51
BLR 001 / 1105 / OBS 110
Restriction sur
liberté de mouvement
Belarus
Le 14 novembre
2005
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