Chairman of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly Peter Shider proclaimed the formation of a PACE sub-commission for Belarus during the September 23 press-conference in Strasbourg, where the PACE session opened today.

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Within the framework of the “Cobweb” operation the European special services detained over 50 leaders of the criminal gangs, linked with the Russian mafia. However, the former Soviet national Garry Luchansky managed to avoid arrest. The man is notorious for his role in the smuggling of former Soviet arms. Pundits confirm that in 90ies Luchansky actively cooperated with the official Belarus and is implicated in the scandalous sale of the air-defense complex S-300.

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Procuracy general reprimanded the newspaper “Dlya Sluzhebnogo Polzovania” for an article “Afgansiye Borzuye”, instituting legal action against the author of the publication Irina Halip.
On September 20 Irina Halip was summoned to the city procuracy for interrogation. Investigator Vladimir Shilov told her about the lawsuit. Irina is charged with libeling prosecutor general Viktor Sheiman in an afore-mentioned article.

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Belarusian procuracy is inspecting into the circumstances, under which it became possible to publish in the September 19 issue of the “Narodnaya Volya” by the ex-director general of the Minsk tractor plant Mikhail Leonov, “Interfax” was told in the country’s procuracy. Mikhail Leonov was arrested in January this year. He was charged with power abuse, large-scale embezzlement, criminal negligence and bribery. At the moment Mikhail Leonov is held behind bars in the Zhodino pre-trial confinement center. His detention term was prolonged until October 7.

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The daily agenda of the Monday PACE session in Strasbourg contains over 20 issues of importance, reports RIA “Novosti” correspondent. According to the PACE press-service, during the session, which will last until September 27, they plan to raise an issue of Yugoslavia’s accession to CoE, Turkey’s fulfillment of the European court for human rights’ rulings, Kaliningrad problem, protection of national minorities in Belgium, situation in Georgia and Belarus.

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Georgian president Eduard Shevarnadze in his letter to Lukashenko hoped for “an unbiased and objective position of the Belarusian president” on the issue of Russian-Georgian problems. In his missive Shevarnadze laid down the position, to which Georgia sticks in the border protection area.

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