Deputies Adopted Law Banning Mass Inactivity

Deputy Interior Minister Yevgeni Poluden introduced the bill to the House of Representatives.

As Telegraf previously reported, the Council of Ministers of Belarus has prepared a draft law on Amendments and Addenda to the Law "On Mass Events in the Republic of Belarus." The bill introduces new rules for public events, stricter measure of responsibility of the participants, as well as gives greater rights to employees of law enforcement agencies.

In particular, the Council of Ministers wants to equate picketing to "the massive presence of people together in a predetermined public place (including outdoors) and set time to perform a predetermined action or inaction, organized (including through the Internet global computer network or other information net) for the public expression of their social and political attitudes or protest."

August 2, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Janez Lenarcic expressed concern with the intention of the Belarusian government to impose additional restrictions on peaceful assembly. Existing laws in Belarus have already been violating international norms, he said.

The draft law on amendments and addenda of the law on mass events, introduced by the Council of Ministers of Belarus, is aimed at strengthening security measures at public events, said, in his turn, deputy chairman of the Standing Committee of the House of Representatives on Human Rights, National Relations and Mass Media Anatoli Glaz.

Meanwhile, Minsk police banned the residents of the capital to a jog in the park named after Maxim Gorky. At 09:00, October 2, the police came up to members of the group "Sobriety - it's easy" in social network "Vkontakte," who organize jogging every Sunday morning, and threatened arrest for jogging, regarded as participation in an unsanctioned event.