Mikhail Pastukhou: Blocking Of Charter'97 Should Be Appealed In Independent International Courts

• 16.02.2018, 15:57

A serious violation of the rights of millions of readers of the website took place in Belarus.

This was stated by Mikhail Pastukhou, Doctor of Law, Professor, former judge of the Constitutional Court, Honored Lawyer of Belarus, commenting on the blocking of Charter97.org in Belarus:

- I can say as a former Constitutional Court judge and the head of the legal center that Charter'97 blockage is a serious violation of the freedom of speech, the rights of millions of readers of a democratic, independent website.

I cannot justify the fact that without explaining intelligible reasons, weighty reasons, the officials unexpectedly blocked the informational oxygen for the Belarusians.

We, the citizens of Belarus, have suffered serious restrictions due to the fact that we have not received a variety of information from different informational sources for quite a long time.

I condemn the actions of either the Ministry of Information or the Information and Analytical Center, which limited the Constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens on who knows what grounds.

I think that the fact of the blocking of Charter97.org should be the subject of consideration in independent instances. The courts of Belarus are not suitable for this role, this issue should be resolved by some kind of international arbitration. If such claims are brought against the Belarusian authorities by some international organizations, for which the principles of freedom of speech and the activities of pluralistic media are important. There should be a reaction to the fact of Charter'97 blocking.

I want to express solidarity to both the editor's office and the readers of Charter97.org website, which I also expressed to the Belarusian Partisan.

I am a reader of Charter'97 and the author of a number of publications. Frankly, I really miss this source of critical information about the situation in our country.