3 March 2002
Authorities in Brest initiate court proceedings for closure of Vezha center

 The justice department of the Brest Regional Executive Committee has initiated court proceedings for the closure of Vezha, the Brest-based
center for support of civil initiatives. The first hearing has been scheduled for March 4.
Vezha is the largest and most influential non-governmental organization in the Brest region. It was established four years ago. Until recently, it performed the functions of a resource center for several hundreds of NGOs in the region.
In September 2001, it received an official warning from the justice department for activities that allegedly were outside of the organization's charter. The warning followed a public opinion poll conducted by Vezha on the eve of the presidential election. The Brest Regional Court and the
Supreme Court of Belarus upheld the warning. In October, the justice department issued a second warning to Vezha, this time for allegedly illegal use in its documents and stamps of the word "Bierascie" instead of "Brest," and for writing the "Center Vezha" instead of the
"Brest Regional Center for Support of Civil Initiatives 'Vezha.'"
In December, the justice department found that Vezha's program called "Legal Clinic" was illegal and was not provided for by the organization's charter. These warnings and Article 29 of the Non-Governmental Organizations Law are referred to as the grounds for the
justice department's legal action against Vezha.