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Belarus: A Last Vestige of Civil Society Comes Under Attack

13 Dec 2006 20:35:32 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch

(Moscow, December 14, 2006) – The authorities in Belarus should immediately halt their attempts to close down the last remaining human rights organization registered in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Last week the office of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, founded in 1995, was entered by bailiffs of the Minsk Economic Court, who seized office equipment from the Minsk-based human rights group. Human Rights Watch calls on the authorities to return the confiscated equipment immediately.

In December 2005 the Supreme Economic Court Presidium reinstated an order demanding the Belarusian Helsinki Committee to pay a crippling fine for not paying taxes on a European Union grant that the Belarusian authorities, as well as EU governments, had recognized as tax-exempt.

"In its campaign to eradicate civil society, the Belarusian government has trumped up tax-evasion charges against the country's last registered human rights group," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government's seizure of office equipment is just the latest in its series of attacks to shut down the Belarusian Helsinki Committee permanently."

Belarusian court authorities entered the office of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee on December 5 and seized a computer, a printer and a fax machine in what can only be termed an effort to cause the organization to suspend its activities permanently. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee believes that this is the latest politically motivated attempt of the Belarusian government to silence it and shut down its work.

"We cannot work properly without our office equipment, but are making due with our own personal computers," said Oleg Gulak, deputy chairman of Belarusian Helsinki Committee. "Despite the government's attempt to make it impossible for us to work, we will continue as long as we are able."

Since 2004 the Belarusian Helsinki Committee has been under severe legal pressure as the government has made repeated attempts to fine it for allegedly evading tax payments on tax-exempt EU grants. In January 2004 the Taxes and Dues Ministry Inspection of the Moscow district of Minsk brought tax-evasion charges against the committee. At the same time, the Department for Financial Investigations of the Committee of State Control also opened a criminal case against Belarusian Helsinki Committee officials that was only dropped in March of this year. On June 23, 2004, the Minsk Economic Court ruled in favor of the committee, stating that the group did not have to pay taxes on grants received under the European Union's Technical Aid to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) Program. This verdict upheld the 1994 memorandum, agreed on by both Belarus and the EU, that deems funding provided by the TACIS program tax-exempt.

In late 2005, after charges against the Belarus Helsinki Committee had been cleared, Evgenii Smirnov, the first deputy chair of the Supreme Economic Court, submitted an official protest to the court's presidium. A year ago, on December 20, the committee was found guilty of tax-evasion and was ordered to pay more than 160 million rubles (US$75,000) in fines and back taxes.

In March 2006, in pursuance of the Supreme Economic Court's presidium ruling, the authorities audited the committee's property. In August, deputy chair Smirnov rejected an appeal that the committee had made in July. Last week, the authorities valued the property seized from the committee at 255 thousand rubles (roughly US$120), which counts towards the greater sum that the committee has been ordered to pay.

"By slapping on this outrageous fine and seizing the Belarusian Helsinki Committee's office equipment, the government has again displayed its willingness to stifle the work of human rights defenders," says Cartner.

Last year the Ministry of Justice forced the Belarusian Helsinki Committee to shut down its regional network of offices, alleging that the group violated its internal membership rules and failed to properly register a regional office. The Ministry of Justice has also reopened a case against the Belarusian Helsinki Committee seeking to officially suspend their activities on account of their alleged tax-evasion. A hearing was scheduled for November 28, 2006, but was postponed by the judge until "sometime next year," according to the committee.

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Last updated:Wed Dec 13 20:36:56 2006