In his recent article, former head of the OSCE Advisory-Monitoring Group describes the saddening political and human right situation in Belarus. Following comes an extract from the publication:

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The personnel of the Minsk tractor plant forwarded an open letter to Alexander Lukashenko, pleading with him to take Mikhail Leonov’s case under his personal supervision, release the director and return him back to the plant. “Measures, undertaken by the procuracy agents against the director general of the MTP Mikhail Leonov on January 7, 2001 came as a real shock to the Belarusian tractors manufacturers, - reads the letter: Especially their insolence. We’ve seen a lot in our lifetime and the least six years in particular, but how come they apply such extreme measures against the leader of the country’s directorate, who had done a lot for the plant and the country in general – this can’t leave indifferent the company’s personnel… We aren’t opposed to bringing to justice those people, who violate laws. But at first they need to gather the evidence of their guilt and only then place them in jail, not vice versa. This is an axiom for the whole of the world community, so why is it violated in our country?”

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In an interview to “Narodnaya Volya”, published on January 15 this year, the former candidate for the president Sergei Gaidukevich made public the following fact: 500 Belarusian tractors have been passed over to the Iraqi mediator firm upon the order of the presidential Administration and personally Vladimir Zametalin. “Leonov, as far as I’m aware, categorically declined to sign this contract. However, Zametalin forced him to do it. By the way, the size of this contract constituted over a five million dollars. I wonder whether it is the same money, for which they imprisoned Leonov?” – noted Gaidukevich. Today’s “Narodnaya Volya” comes up with certain documents, revealing the details of this strange deal.

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The Political Council of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly doesn’t plan to discuss the Belarusian issue during its parliamentary session, due to take place in Strasbourg on January 21-26, reports BelaPAN. However, the Belarusian problem will be raised in Strasbourg in a minor format – on January 24 the Committee for education, culture and media of Belarus and PACE will discuss the situation around mass media in Belarus. Two Belarusian delegations have been invited to the hearings – one, representing state media, headed by the Minister of information Mikhail Podgainy and one – the non-state ones, led by the president of the BAJ association Janna Litvina.

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Belarusian parliamentary delegation, headed by the chairman of the “republic’s council” Alexander Voitovich, will pay an official visit to China on January 17-24. Their schedule of visit includes a reception at the chairman of the Permanent Council of the All-China assembly of people’s representatives Lee Pen, meetings with the deputy chairman Hu Tsintao, deputy Premier of the Chinese State Council, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist party Tsyan Tichen and other dignitaries. The delegation will consist of the representatives of the agricultural sector, industrial enterprises, lawyers and economists. During the negotiations these people will try to influence at all different levels the Belarusian-Chinese relations, which, according to the Belarusian plenipotentiary ambassador in China Vladimir Rusakovich, leave much to be desired.

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By February 1 they have to nullify the Cabinet’s ruling on the cancellation of the cashless payment for trade unions’ dues. Otherwise, the miners will go for a 5-minute warning strike and the day of the trade union solidarity, reports “Soyuz-info”. Such resolution was passed by the Soligorsk meeting of miners and construction workers of the Minsk region. The event was initiated by the Independent trade union of miners and professional committee of chemistry workers.

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Belarusian KGB forwarded to the Federal security service of Russia the document about the public declarations, voiced by the head of the special information projects department of ORT Pavel Sheremet. The document reads that Sheremet’s words threaten the constitutional order of Belarus, are of clearly anti-state character, discredit the leadership of Belarus and thus damage the relations between the two brotherly countries.

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The Berlin bureau of the Bundestag deputy, vice-president of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly and rapporteur for Belarus Wolfgang Berendt, disseminated via mass media the MP’s open address to Alexander Lukashenko. This was in no wise the first letter, sent to Lukashenko by the European politicians. Previously, a group of the EP deputies called on the official Minsk to launch an independent investigation into the disappearances. In his letter Wolfgang Berendt demands the release of the imprisoned professor Bandazhevsky and the prisoner of conscience, MP Andrei Klimov.

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Investigation into Dmitry Zavadsky’s disappearance case has been temporarily halted, while the cases of the missing Yuri Zakharenko, Viktor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky are out of police competence, said at the yesterday’s press-conference the Interior Minister of Belarus Vladimir Naumov. Naumov stressed that at his recent meeting with Alexander Lukashenko he told the president about the investigation into the criminal cases, personally controlled by the president. “The list of crimes, placed under the president’s special supervision, starts with a large-scale theft in the Osipovichi district. We’ve been looking for the perpetrators since 1994,” – said the Minister. As concerns the abduction of prominent opposition figures – Yuri Zakharenko, Viktor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky – there are no such cases in Lukashenko-controlled police list.

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Leaders of all parties represented in Swedish parliament addressed an open letter in which they called Belarusian authorities to change visa policy. “Several citizens of Sweden and other countries were denied entrance visas without satisfactory explanation. Some of them even had to return from the Minsk airport, though their visas were in order”, -- is stated in the letter, published on January 16 in a Swedish newspaper "Aftonbladet".

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January 16 Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree “On additional measures to regulate economic relations”. The decree, as said in the document, has been signed “in order to sophisticate the state regulation of economic relations, ensure the protection of state interests, as well as other economic objects and exercise the constitutional duties of the Committee for state control.” The decree envisages the system of penal sanctions against economic entities. The CSC, under the order, may use sanctions and impose fines, set forth by the legislation for other controlling bodies – even place arrest on the commodity in cases, specified by the law (also on incomes, received through selling goods, works and services).

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Former director general of the Minsk tractor plant Mikhail Leonov must receive official indictment today, BELTA was told in the press-center of the national procuracy. Leonov was detained 10 days ago upon suspicion of power abuse and criminal negligence.

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Russian president Vladimir Putin said at the press-conference in Warsaw after the first round of talks with the Polish president Alexander Kvasnevsky that “millions of people are streaming through the Russian-Polish border in both directions every day.” In this connection “Interfax” reminds that the Russian-Polish border is but a little strip of land in former Prussiya (present-day southern border of the Kaliningrad region of Russia, where not so many people live, let alone visit). Despite such an obvious hint at the union state, Putin didn’t mention a word about Belarus, which separates Russian mainland from Poland.

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It was decided by the city executive committee on the eve of the new year. From 27 to 35 people will be dismissed in every district of the city. About 250 employees are to fall victim of this decision in a little while. In the first days of the new year directors offered them either to write a request for their salary to be cut by 15-25%, or to be ready for a discharge.

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Secret service officers of Belarus have detained six citizens of Belarus, who are charged with an attempt to sell enriched uranium. They asked $150,000 for 1.5 kg of radioactive matter. The crime was prevented by of a secret agent who entered the network of the vendors. After the detention of the uranium sellers it turned out than the matter was stolen from an atomic power station. As there are no atomic power stations in Belarus, the investigators believe the uranium has Russian, Ukrainian or Lithuanian origin, France Press informs.

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