Justice ministry rejects Belarusian Greens Party’s application package

June 6, BPN. Deputy Justice Minister Aleh Kot has informed the Belarusian Greens Party that the ministry will not consider its re-registration request because it submitted an incomplete application package, a source told BPN.

The Greens applied for re-registration on May 31 without identifying party members for fear of reprisals.

Kot’s letter stresses that re-registration requires the submission of party members’ names along with other documents.

The Greens reportedly expected such response and intend to complain to the Council of Ministers as well as to Alaksandr Łukašenka’s administration and the Supreme Court.

Earlier, a party executive told BPN that the Greens applied for re-registration to avoid self-liquidation. The party reportedly considers the submission of membership lists an unlawful requirement.

The Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) and the “Just World” Belarusian Party of the Left also applied for re-registration without identifying their members.

On February 14, Alaksandr Łukašenka signed into law a bill governing political parties and public associations after it was rushed through the National Assembly. The new legislation would require all functioning parties to re-register.

A week later, Justice Minister Siarhiej Chamienka said that the number of political parties in Belarus will drop from fifteen to three or four after re-registration.

Critics fear that the re-registration campaign is just a pretext to shut down the few surviving opposition parties.