Belarus Requests Liquidation of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee [1]
On September 30, 2021, as reported by JURIST [3], the Supreme Court of Belarus held a hearing regarding the lawsuit filed in August by the Ministry of Justice of Belarus, requesting liquidation of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC), one of the oldest human rights group in Belarus. The Ministry of Justice claims [4] that the BHC provided incorrect financial information in its annual report. On September 22, 2021, several international non-governmental organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, issued an open letter [5] for the Ministry and requested withdrawal of the lawsuit. On September 24, 2021, Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described this move as part of Belarusian authorities’ pattern of behavior that aim for “suppressing criticism of and dissent from Governmental policies.”