Beer Lovers Party (BLP; ; ) was one of several Beer Lovers Parties created in some

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

, including

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. It was officially registered on 30 December 1993. According to its statute, "the major goal of the BLP is the struggle for the cleanness and quality of the national beer, state independence and the neutrality of Belarus, freedom of economic relations, personal inviolability and the inviolability of

private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental Capacity (law), legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from Collective ownership ...

". The Chairman was Andrej Ramašeŭski (Андрэй Рамашэўскі). In 1995 Ramašeŭski was arrested and imprisoned for burning the flag of the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

in public in protest against the change of national symbols by Belarusian President

Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...

after a controversial referendum. He was detained for

hooliganism Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, often in connection with crowds at sporting events. A hooligan is a person that engages in illicit reckless behaviors and is a public nuisance. Etymology ...

("злостное хулиганство, совершенном с особым цинизмом", "malicious hooliganism, perpetrated with a pronounced cynicism"), and after 3 months of imprisonment, on 19 July 1996 he received

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

for two years of prison. Ramašeŭski denies that it was he who burned the flag, referring to a video of the event. Later he emigrated first to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and later to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and became a Czech citizen and, lately, a member of

Czech Pirate Party The Czech Pirate Party ( ) often known simply as the Pirates (''Piráti'' ) is a Liberalism, liberal Progressivism, progressive List of political parties in the Czech Republic, political party in the Czech Republic, founded in 2009. The party was ...

. After that the affairs of the party went into a disarray. The party was liquidated in 1998 by the

Supreme Court of Belarus The Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus is the highest-tier court inside of Belarus and acts as the final "court of review." Its general tasks include the oversight of lower-tier courts and it can render justice in areas of general civil an ...

. The declared reason of the liquidation of BLP (as well as of several other parties) was failure of the party to address the request of the Belarus Ministry of Justice about the membership statistics and management structure of the party.''Journal Justice of Belarus, #1, 1998'' The logo of the Party is an allusion to the "drunken

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. The ...

", a stereotype from

Russian jokes Russian jokes () are short fictional stories or dialogs with a punch line, which commonly appear in Russian humor. Russian joke culture includes a series of categories with fixed settings and characters. Russian jokes treat topics found everywher ...

References

Defunct political parties in Belarus Beer political parties Political parties established in 1993 Political parties disestablished in 1998 1993 establishments in Belarus 1998 disestablishments in Belarus {{Belarus-party-stub

See also

References