The last court’s hearing on Ignatovich’s group’s case was put off till March 11. The four men are charged with serial murders and the abduction of an ORT cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky. The persecutor demanded capital punishment for all four. Prior to that, the influential human rights watchdog Amnesty International, called on the Belarusian authorities to a more thorough investigation into Dmitry Zavadsky’s disappearance. The Amnesty International declared that the trial over the possible journalist’s kidnappers took place in breach of the international norms: the process was of a closed nature and saw no presentation of convincing proof of the defendants’ guilt. The Council of Europe’s secretary general Walter Schwimmer called upon the Belarusian authorities not to condemn the suspects to death penalty.

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Last Sunday Belarusian opposition accepted an alternative variant of the national anthem of the country. The song “Mighty God” was chosen. Six variants of the national hymn were suggested. At the assembly in Minsk the leaders of the political parties and representatives of the intelligentsia. The minutes of the assembly were submitted to the Culture Ministry.

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In the house of the parents of the Young Front leader Paval Sevyarynets, who live in Vitsebsk, on March 6 in the evening the officers of the court distrained the property. As said by Sevyarynets, it happened after the decision of the Soviet District Court of Minsk by which he was sentenced to a fine equal to 300 minimal salaries (USD1,800) for participation in the march that took place in Minsk on February 14, on the St.Valentine’s Day.

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Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer has urged Belarus not to sentence four accused men: as Valery Ihnatovich, Maxim Malik, Alyaksei Guz and Syargei Savushkin, to death. Today, on March 11, at 11 a.m. in the Minsk court a verdict to them will be pronounced to them in the Minsk regional court. The state prosecutor Fiodar Shedau demanded execution for the band of the former ‘Almaz’ officer Ihnatovich that is charged with numerous crimes, including abduction of Russian TV cameraman Dzmitser Zavadsky.

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In Byalystok a third hearing of the Court the Appeal on the request of the Belarusian businessman Andrei Zhukavets was held. Zhukavets has lodged an appeal against the judgment of the Byalystok regional court that for the third time ruled that his extradition to Belarus is acceptable. However this time the Court the Appeal accepted the final decision that the extradition of Zhukavets to the Belarusian authorities is not possible. This last trial I the case of Zhukavets was in a sense extraordinary. The public prosecutor appeared for the defense of the accused.

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The Hrodna executive committee prohibited the community of Hrodna to carry out three pickets in defense of the editor-in-chief of the “Pahonya” newspaper Mikalai Markevich and journalist Pavel Mazheika, who were accused by the public prosecutor of the region in “libeling the president”. The chair of the executive committee Alyaxandar Antonenka explained the ban as following: “the protests in the period of investigation won’t contribute to the impartialness of the inquiry”. The pickets in defense of journalists were to happen in front of the buildings of the public prosecutor’s office of the Hrodna region, the Investigation committee and the regional executive committee.

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Under this slogan another action of the Zubr movement was held in Barysau. It was dedicated to protection of the buildings in the old part of Barysau. Many of the houses were built more than a century ago. More than hundred Zubrs gathered on March 10, at 11 a.m. by the Barysau cinema “Peramoha”. Part of the Zubrs stood with streamers with the words: “First they take away our history, then the memory, and then – the Freedom!” and “What shall we leave to our posterity?”

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On March 11 a “Pension Case” of Stanislau Shushkevich is to be considered by the Moscow district city court of Minsk. Ex chairman of the Supreme Council appeals against the rejection of the Labor and Social Defense Ministry to raise his pension, which now is equal to about $2. As said by him, earlier he earned money by reading lectures in the universities of the USA and Poland, but now he is at dire straits. By the way, ex-head of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, who together with Shushkevich signed treaty of the Belavezhskaya Puscha, receives pension equal to $600, has a personal car and guard.

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The protest against the intervention of the authorities to the affairs of the trade unions was expressed by the participants of the Conference of the Baltic States’ trade unions. In their address they wrote: “Despite numerous protests of the trade unions of Russian and many other countries, international trade unions, International Labor Organization, the authorities o Belarus continue intervention into the internal affairs of the trade unions, infringe workers’ rights for freedom of association”. The trade unions of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Finland and the countries of the Baltic region expressed their solidarity with the fight of the Belarusian trade unions.

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Lithuanian energy-transmitting company “Lietuvos Energia” plans to raise this spring the prices on the exported energy supplies to Belarus and Kaliningrad region, reports “Baltiysky kurs” exclusively for the RusEnergy. LE’s director general Rimantas Yuozaitis reported that during the negotiations with the current mediator in electricity export – the Russian company “Inter RAO EES” – thy already bargained a 10% bigger price.

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The indebtedness of the agricultural enterprises for the mineral fertilizers sold by the “Belneftekhim” concern is equal to 13.2 bn roubles and has grown twice compared to January. On this reason the delivery of the mineral fertilizers is slowed down, in spite of the fact that the spring sowing campaign is coming.

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