ILHR Addresses Lukashenko Over Illegal Raids On Opposition Offices :: Charter'97 :: News

Authoritative human rights watchdog the International League for Human Rights forwarded a letter of concern to president Lukashenko, rebuking him for recent police break-ins into the offices of democratic organizations. Following read the full text of the message:

Dear Mr. Lukashenko,

The International League for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization devoted to protection of human rights, is writing to express our grave concern about a series of recent police raids on civic and political organizations, which resulted in confiscation of their property.

On August 8, a group of policemen and State Security agents surrounded and then broke into the office of the youth organization Gart, based in Gomel. Gart is an umbrella organization which consists of activists from several democratic youth groups, including the increasingly popular ZUBR youth movement. The police detained five young men who were in the building, including two members of ZUBR. Four of them were subsequently released, while Roman Palaschenko, press-secretary of the Gomel ZUBR branch is still being held. On the same day, policemen surrounded the office of another Gomel-based organization Civic Initiative detaining Vladimir Katsoro, head of the Gomel branch of United Civic Party. On August 9, police raided the office of Gart for the second time, confiscating all of its computers and other electronic equipment. On August 9, police made an unsanctioned search of the Grodno-based organization Ratusha headed by Semyon Domash, one of the democratic candidates in the upcoming presidential elections. Without providing any explanation for the search, the policemen confiscated documents, computers and other equipment. These incidents come before the presidential elections in September further undermining the legitimacy and credibility of your government and dispelling any illusions of free and fair elections. We demand that you use the power of your office to return the confiscated equipment to the aforementioned victims and stop all harassment of public organizations and presidential candidates in accordance with the OSCE`s and other international commitments your country has signed.

Sincerely,

Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

Executive Director