Leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Gromada) Nikolai Statkevich was sentenced minutes ago to 10 days of administrative arrest by the Sovetsky district court of Minsk. The social democrat was found guilty of violating art.167/2 of the Code on administrative violations (order of holding mass rallies) for running on March 15 the street action, marking the day of constitution. The judge ruled that the verdict is not to be appealed against and Statkevich was escorted to the confinement center in Okrestina str.

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Recently Alexander Lukashenko gave an exclusive interview to the influential American newspaper “The Wall Street Journal”, the fragments of which were later re-published by the “Sovetskaya Belorussiya”. Lukashenko informed the international public about the reasons for arresting the directors of the country’s leading enterprises.

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The law-enforcement bodies continue to investigate into the money-launderings and extortions of credits. Recently one of the district courts of Minsk received files against Yuri Rolev, director of the “Zapad-1 ltd.”. In 1994 the defendant was getting loans in the “Belarus” bank under the pretext of trade and economic transactions. Now, reports the “Belorusskaya Gazeta”, the man is held in a confinement center.

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Overnight March 16-17 the unidentified robbers broke into the local “Vesna” human rights center office, stealing away two PCs, two displays, a printer, a phone/fax, a modem, a scanner, tape-recorders and a camera. Police instituted criminal proceedings under art.205/3 of the Belarusian Penal Code.

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Viktor Yuschenko underscored that election falsifications may occur on the whole of the Ukrainian territory “to smaller or greater degree”. The most alarming in his opinion is the situation with the country’s east. 50% of the election commission members there represent the bloc “For unified Ukraine”. “Think for yourself what technologies can be applied there,” – Interfax-Ukraine quotes him as saying.

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According to the Ministry of statistics and analysis, in the 4th quarter 2001 an average Belarusian family spent every month almost 196thsd rubles (around $216). So it appears that the population’s combined real annual demand equals to $5,8bln. The country’s GDP constitutes $12bln. From the African point of view this is no misery, of course, but it is also far from being the level of internal demand, which could guarantee the stable economic rise without the attraction of foreign investments and business liberalization, marks the “Belorusskaya Gazeta”.

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The consumer prices in Belarus rose since the beginning of the year by 10,8%. According to the Ministry of statistics and analysis, in January the prices rose by 6,1%, February – 3,6%, while in the first week of March – by 0,8%. Over the analogous period last year the prices increased by 10,6%, reports BelaPAN.

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State-run collective farms readiness ahead of the spring sowing season leaves much to be desired, said on March 15 the country’s Vice-Premier Alexander Popkov in his interview to the Belarusian television.

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Leader of the Social-democratic party of Belarus (Narodnaya Gromada) Nikolai Statkevich was detained by the law-enforcement bodies of Minsk and placed in the pre-trial detention ward. The man got captured for organizing on March 15 an unsanctioned street rally, marking the Day of Constitution.

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The Belarusian Association of Journalists released a statement on the recent decision of the Minsk regional court, which finished trial proceedings over the “Ignatovich’s gang”. The statement reads that “the verdict against Valery Ignatovich’s criminal gang, passed on March 14, 2002 by court, has never answered the main question: what happened on July 7, 2000 with the member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Dmitry Zavadsky.”

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Case #414100 isn’t the only one, featuring the convicts from the “Ignatovich’s gang”. Last year they formed on its basis another three criminal files. One, over the robbery attack, is still a matter of court considerations, while two other are instituted over human disappearances. Now, after the verdict’s announcement, one can only speak of one disappeared – Dmitry Zavadsky. The court didn’t prove Ignatovich’s implication in kidnapping the technician Vladimir Kotov. However, there exist serious evidence on his involvement in the matter.

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These days Alexander Lukashenko is having an immensely intense working agenda. On March 12 he played a tough hockey game with the local team. According to the unverified UCP data, Lukashenko scored thrice and made two passes. On March 13 he played against the amateur’s squad from Innsbruck. Lukashenko hit the net eight times, reports his press-service. On March 14 he was expected to play against the Austrian veterans hockey team.

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Borisov authorities intend to put for sale the former town’s synagogue building, the Blagovest-info quotes the president of the Jewish religious association of Belarus Yuri Dorn as saying. In his opinion, a one-story brick-laid synagogue of 250 square meters of space, located in the Lopatina str. 41, had been constructed by the Borisov’s Jewish community in 1906. “The building is an architectural monument and until recently was being used as a sports institution,” – said Yuri Dorn.

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