The coordinator of “Green Network” Jaraslau Bekish wrote an open letter to the officials

Photos by EuroBelarus

Minsk state officials referred to the members of the public who oppose dense build-up in the Belarusan capital as to the “instigators” and “disruptors”. It didn’t take long to wait for the reaction.

The coordinator of the “Green network” stroke back at the representatives of Minsk executive committee with an open letter. Jaraslau Bekish is convinced that Minsk citizens have already heard a lot about the densifying of the city. And on April 3-4 a public discussion “Participation of citizens in town development” took place, where lots of officials from the Department of the Interior, Minsk state committee for protection of natural resources, committee for architecture and urban development of the Minsk executive committee were invited.

Despite that at first all the above mentioned authorities supported the idea for such a discussion, their long negotiations and debate about the division of responsibility resulted in the situation when no one came to the meeting.

However, the day after that an article was published, in which all these “city fathers” have finally announced who is responsible for all the problems in the city. The article condemns “corrupt instigators and disruptors” and demands owes of loyalty from the journalists.

As “Green network” community is one of the social structures that assert ecological rights of the citizens, its coordinator, Jaraslau Bekish replied to the “cowardly officials” the following:

First, every accusation and blames in the article only testify that the above mentioned bodies of state administration are unprepared for the public dialog. It is the result of the ill-reasoned, ignorant and illegal unconstitutional actions, which are also inconsistent with the international conventions ratified by Belarus.

Secondly, the article is correct when it comes to consolidation of the local initiative groups, though it is understandable that it would have been much easier for the authorities to deal with uncoordinated groups discontented people.

Thirdly, “Green network” recalls that it is officials who are servants of the people and are paid for their services. And it is citizens of the Republic of Belarus who are addressing the officials and invite them to discuss the possible changes both in the legislation and in the law enforcement.

Jaraslau Bekish highlighted that he has no illusions about his open letter, but called for the authorities not to get the illusion of impunity either. The coordinator of the “Green network” expressed special gratitude to the journalists and Mass Media that actively reported about the despotism of the city officials.