Council of Republic passes people’s militia bill

June 30, BPN. The upper house of the National Assembly has approved the bill concerning the people’s militia, its press office reports.

The bill defines procedures for “voluntary participation in enforcing martial law” in the country, it noted.

On June 15, Belarusian MPs passed the second reading of the bill drafted by Chief of the General Staff Viktar Hulevič. It still needs the approval of Alaksandr Łukašenka.

The bill defines procedures for organizing people’s militia units and contains provisions on command, manning, and deployment and the powers of state agencies and officials.

People’s militias would be authorized to use physical force and weapons while assisting the interior ministry’s forces in maintaining martial law and protecting property, says a version of the bill published on the National Legal Internet Portal on May 23.

The government will be in charge of setting up and dissolving people’s militias.