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Ban of Minsk Slavic Gay Pride Challenged in Belarusian Court

The organizers of the Slavic Gay Pride appealed the ban of their event to a District Court of Minsk. In their application, they claim that the decision of the city authorities to ban their public action was “illegal and infringing the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly”.

The permit to hold a ‘march in support of tolerance and respect for the rights of homosexuals’ on May 15 in the city centre of Belarus Capital City was requested on March 4.

Organizers said they received a written denial from the city authorities only on May 7, preventing them to take any legal action before the scheduled date of their public action.

In their reply, the authorities said that the march was no authorized in accordance with article 9 which says that “public events cannot be conducted less than 200 meters from the metro exit”

“This article has been used in a discriminatory way against us because the authorities have already allowed several public events in the same place for which we applied” said Sergey Androsenko, the local organizer.

“If we loose in Belarus, we are ready to bring this case up to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva” added Mr Androsenko.

The Slavic Gay Pride movement was created in autumn 2008 in Minsk by a group of Russian-Belarusian LGBT activists. The first Slavic Pride was held in Moscow on May 16, 2009 during which 32 participants were arrested. The Second Slavic Pride took place in Minsk on May 15 and 12 participants were arrested. Next Slavic Pride is planned in 2011 in St Petersburg.

Аўтар артыкулу: GayRussia / GayBelarus

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