European Centre for Law and Justice embarks on major religious freedoms initiative with Belarusian opposition leaders before the Parliament of the European Union

(Minsk, Belarus) The European Centre for Law and Justice is currently coordinating what could be the largest religious freedoms initiative towards both the Council of Europe and European Union in the history of both institutions. The ECLJ drafted legal petition on behalf of a sizable segment of the population of Belarus, which will be conjoined to a petition of over 50, 000 signatures of Belarusian citizens and will be represented by the top political opposition leaders in the country, renowned human rights organizations, and the Sacharov Prize winning Association of Independent Journalists of Belarus asks the European institutions to take all steps necessary, politically and diplomatically, in bringing a change to the current breaches of basic and fundamental democratic rights in Belarus, particularly within the spectrum of religious rights.

On May 27th, the petition and signatures will be formally deposited to the President of the European Parliament, Chairman of the Delegation for Relations with Belarus, and Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions at a private audience with European Parliamentary President Hans-Gert Poettering and will be preceded by a press conference at the Parliament itself. An extraordinary meeting of the Delegation for Relations with Belarus on the topic of religious freedoms violations in Belarus will also take place as a result of the deposit of the petition. ECLJ will brief the delegation, along with Alaksandr Milinkevich, Sacharov Prize winning laureate and Chairman of the leading Belarusian political opposition group, the Movement for Freedom Party, and Pavel Seviarynets, the Co-chairman of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party, a man repeatedly imprisoned for his efforts towards the democratization of Belarus.

ECLJ has been working behind the scenes on the initiative for several months meeting with top political leaders with regards to a strategy to move foreword in tackling the many problems facing Belarusian religious minorities, including severe restrictions on freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and simple manifestations of religious beliefs. Recognition must also be given to two of the petitions main co-representatives, Sergei Lukanin, coordinator of the mass signature drive, and Mr. Seviarynets, who has faced criminal sanctions as a result of his participation in the signature campaign.

The legal petition can be found here on www.eclj.org. ECLJ will keep you updated regularly as to this developing story.