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Young Christian Democrats expected to hold another founding conference on Sunday

The youth wing of Belarusian Christian Democracy (BCD) is expected will hold a new founding conference in Minsk on October 20.

In an interview with BelaPAN, Maryna Khomich, leader of Young Christian Democrats, said that the organization would keep pushing for legal status until the justice ministry registered it.

"Every time, we will take into account the alleged flaws in our previous registration applications," Ms. Khomich said. "It's interesting to see what new reasons authorities will find to deny us."

Ms. Khomich said that the founding conference would be another opportunity to meet and discuss plans for the future, especially considering that the local election campaign would begin soon.

Young Christian Democrats held its first founding conference in Minsk on November 3, 2012, with 60 delegates in attendance.

In mid-February, the justice ministry denied legal status to the organization, citing incorrect information about its founders, its failure to submit additional documents relating to its founding conference, namely a copy of the rent agreement for the auditorium where the conference had been held, as well as spelling and punctuation mistakes in the application for state registration. Young Christian Democrats refused to submit these documents, insisting that that was not required by laws.

On April 10, the Supreme Court of Belarus upheld the registration denial.

The justice ministry has denied registration to Belarusian Christian Democracy four times, twice in 2009, once in 2010 and once in 2012. Alyaksandr Lukashenka said in an interview given to The Washington Post in early 2011 that BCD would probably never be granted state registration. "They took part in a riot; they are not Christian Democrats, they are bandits," he said, apparently referring to a large-scale post-election protest that was staged in Minsk on December 19, 2010.