31 January 2008
Justice ministry requests Supreme Court to suspend closure suit against Belarusian Party of Communists

The justice ministry has requested the Supreme Court to suspend its closure suit against the Belarusian Party of Communists (BPC), Valery Ukhnalyow, deputy chairman of the opposition party, told BelaPAN.

Representatives of the ministry and the BPC met in the Supreme Court on January 30 to discuss the case. The party’s leaders presented 1,200-page materials proving allegedly that defects cited earlier by the ministry had been remedied.

“The justice ministry decided to study our report and filed a request for the suspension of the suit in connection with this,” Mr. Ukhnalyow said. “We raised no objections.”

The party’s six-month suspension, which was ordered by the ministry, expires on February 2. “Our party plans to resume its full-scale activities afterward and catch up with all events that took place in this period,” the activist said, adding that the BPC would be preparing for this year’s parliamentary elections.

The ministry filed the closure suit against the party on January 4.

The ministry said that the BPC had been actively involved in political and international activities after its suspension in August 2007.

It insisted that the party had collected signatures, organized picketing and was among the organizers of the opposition’s European March staged in Minsk in October. The ministry said with reference to Internet news sources that on August 30, the BPC, together with other opposition parties, had signed an agreement on the principles of participation in Belarus’ 2008 parliamentary elections and proposed its potential candidates.

In addition, the ministry said, the party participated in conferences and workshops abroad, established new chapters and conducted other activities not relating to the elimination of the flaws that were the grounds for the suspension of the party.