BAJ not to be able to appeal court’s decision
The judge claimed it at the begging of the hearing, but lawyers are expressing their protest anyway
A hearing of the appeal of the Belarusian Association of Journalists concerning the written warning pronounced to it by the Ministry of Justice started in the Supreme Court on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
Despite of the fact that the BAJ had asked for a big hall for the hearing in advance, the people who wanted to attend the hearing hardly managed to fit in the proposed room. The court secretary even had to bring additional chairs. Meanwhile, people wishing to enter were allowed to do it.
Besides BAJ representatives headed by the organization’s chairperson Zhanna Litvina, her deputy Andrei Bastunets and representatives of the Ministry of Justice, there were journalists of independent mass media, the Swedish Ambassador Stefan Ericsson and an employee of the OSCE representative office in Belarus.
The judge, Mr. Tserah, warned the present that they would not be able to appeal the decision taken by the court. He referred to the Civil Code of Practice (CCP). However, a lawyer Harry Pahanyaila who represented the civil society protested against it.
Harry Pahanyaila: “The mentioned CCP norm does not correspond to the Belarusian Constitution, namely to article #14 of the act “On civil and political rights” ratified by Belarus. The acts have more power than CCP norms and they guarantee the right of appealing decisions to everyone”.
A representative of the journalistic organization Andrei Bastunets made his speech in the morning. He disputed all the complaints of the Ministry of Justice. 
Let us remind you that the Ministry of Justice warned the BAJ. The journalistic organization was accused of several things at a time – the warning concerned their membership certificates, the status of the Centre for mass media rights protection of the BAJ and some information presented on the organization’s website.
Speaking about membership certificates, the Ministry of Justice was against the inscription “Press” on them. Bastunets explained to the court that the inscription was common for certificates of journalistic organizations all over the world. He presented certificates of journalists’ unions of Russia, Denmark, Germany and the International Federation of Journalists as an example. All the certificates had the inscription “Press” on them.
The reaction of the representative of the Ministry of Justice Alyaksandr Haryton was interesting.
Alyaksandr Haryton: “I have a question – do these organizations function in our country? They don’t”. 
That is why, he said, the example could not be used in favour of the BAJ.
Andrei Bastunets also explained to the court, that all the complaints of the Ministry of Justice about the BAJ were groundless.
The representative of the Ministry of Justice Alyaksandr Haryton and a witness of Dzyanisau’s case will make a speech in the second half of the day.
In Harry Pahanyala’s opinion, there have been no violations during the trial yet.
Harry Pahanyala: “The process is being conduced according to the existing procedure. The judge is trying to grasp the essence of the complaints presented by the Ministry of Justice. Bastunet’s report shows how far-fetched the complaints are. I think the warning will be cancelled if the court acts according to the law”.
In her turn, the BAJ chairperson Zhanna Litvina thinks that all the complaints of the Ministry of Justice are groundless.
Zhanna Litvina: “The BAJ always fulfills all demands of the Ministry of Justice. All changes in the statute were discussed with the Ministry of Justice in the first place. If such problems arouse now, it means that there are some other reasons for them. Everything connected with information distribution attracts a lot of attention before elections”.
Photo by: Zmitser Lukashuk
