MINSK, 2 April (BelTA) – Members of the seventh-convocation House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus have given the first reading to the bill on preventing the rehabilitation of Nazism, BelTA has learned.
The bill was brought in by the Council of Ministers. It is the first time a bill legislates the terms “Nazi criminals”, “accomplices of Nazi criminals” and stipulates entities in charge of counteracting the rehabilitation of Nazism. Law enforcement agencies are supposed to be entrusted with coordinating the work of these entities.
The bill has been worked out taking into account norms of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly model law on the inadmissibility of actions to rehabilitate Nazism, glorify Nazi criminals and their accomplices.
Deputy Chairwoman of the Human Rights, National Relations, and Mass Media Commission Lilia Ananich said: “Unfortunately, we see these processes on the global scale when the history gets rewritten, when the outcome of those events, which were unambiguously evaluated by an international tribunal, gets revised. Unfortunately, such ideas and attempts to rehabilitate Nazism take root in our country, too. It is manifested in a growing number of the relevant administrative offenses. We should once again take a look because our country pursues a clear-cut, persistent policy on the inadmissibility of glorification of Nazism, including in the international scene.”
The bill clearly prohibits the glorification of Nazism, its financing, the operation of organizations that advocate the glorification of Nazism, including foreign organizations and including in the Internet. “It is the first time a legal definition will be given to the terms ‘Nazi criminals', ‘accomplices of Nazi criminals'. Those are sore spots. These processes cannot be underestimated. We see how harmful they are at the example of other countries, when some heroes, some people use every pretext to justify aiding and abetting Nazism,” the MP noted.
The bill stipulates the main areas of preventive work against Nazism rehabilitation. In particular, mass media will be monitored to prevent the rehabilitation of Nazism. Measures to counteract the rehabilitation of Nazism are stipulated, including official warnings and orders, suspension of operation, prohibition to operate, the shutdown of extremist organizations. An article of the bill is dedicated to the counteraction of rehabilitation of Nazism in the course of immortalizing memory of the fallen.
