A prominent human rights watchdog, a lawyer of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Harry Pahanyajla comments on the brutal disband of the solidarity rally on February 16 in Minsk.

The human rights activist could personally observe people in plainclothes and their actions towards peaceful citizens. He was on October Square on that day, and he shared his impressions wit charter97.org website.

“Today, like always, on the 16th day of every month, democratically minded citizens held a solidarity rally. Such rallies are not a violation of the law which falls under law “On mass events”. Participants of the today’s protest haven’t had posters in their hands. People have come to express solidarity with political prisoners and politicians and public leaders who had disappeared in Belarus,” Harry Pahanyajla said.

In spite of the fact that the rally was peaceful in its nature, its participants were arrested with the use of force.

“Even at the approaches to the spot people in mufti, who undoubtedly were representatives of special units of the Interior Ministry, hindered participants to go to October Square. Some of them (whose faces are well-known to them probably) were seized and pushed into the police bus. Representatives of mass media were prevented from entering the square, and it was done in a brutal manner. Journalists were hindered in making pictures, they were demanded to hide away cameras. It means that people in mufti had been given such an order apparently.

Such actions are undoubtedly unconstitutional activates, as a result of which citizens are deprived of the right for freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of association,” Pahanyajla is convinced.

The BHC lawyer also notes that people in plainclothes are formally not representatives of the authorities.

“People in plainclothes are not representatives of authority. It is a form of anonymous displaying strength, for actions of authorities to remain unpunished. The prosecutor’s office is to investigate illegal acts of people in plainclothes. However that does not happen, as we see,” Pahanyajla said.

As said by him, dictatorial regimes of Latin America were treating the opposition like that.

“It is a fact that such methods are banned by our legislation in force,” he lawyer said. “They remind methods used by dictatorial regimes I such countries as Argentina, Chile, when oppositionists were seized right in the streets, and they disappeared without traces. Such actions have already been condemned by the world and history”.

As stated by the Belarusian human rights activist, actions of the Belarusian authorities at peaceful opposition rallies demonstrate that they have no intention to respect human rights.

“Actions of the authorities prove that their actual deeds are inconsistent with their statements and calls of the EU to respect human rights,” Pahanyajla notes. “It is just a fig-leaf to conceal their attitude to citizens. The regime is putting a brave face on a sorry business, and for all that they want cooperation with the European Union”.

Charter`97