Famous Belarusian journalist and human rights advocate Valery Schukin appealed to the Minsk city hall with a complaint over arbitrary actions of the Pervomaisky district police authorities. On September 11 at the building of the Pervomaisky district court of Minsk, which hosted trial over the editor of “Rabochy” Viktor Ivashkevich, Valery Schukin was beaten up by three unknown plain-clothed men. After those present in the courtroom tried to defend Schukin, the attackers hid behind the backs of the uniformed policemen, who said that the assailants were of police too. Afterwards Schukin filed a request to check on the incident to the local authorities, which reported that the facts of ill-treatment, laid down by the journalist, didn’t find official confirmation.

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Another scandal rocked the country’s bank sphere. Employees of the Committee for fighting organized criminality and corruption of Minsk captured the first deputy chairman of the “Zolotoi Taler” bank’s board Dmitry Mikhalevich. Now the man is indicted for receiving a large bribe for illicit presenting to a foreign resident of financial documentation. This year it is the second such case, instituted against the chief bankers from the “Zolotoi Taler”.

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On Sunday the activist of the ZUBR movement Andrei Zaitsev, who had been led to a suicide by KGB agents, would have turned 25. Gomel ZUBRs carried out a series of actions, reminding the town dwellers about this regime’s atrocity. In the evening of October 11 they glued all along the routes of the public transport and other popular places a few hundred Andrei’s portraits reading: “Andrei Zaitsev. Activist of the ZUBR movement. Had been led to a suicide by a KGB agent. October 12 the man would have turned 25…”

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Directors of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus recommended to its employees to sacrifice their monthly allowance for the sake of the National library construction project, reads the ruling “On organizing the public movement on money collection for the construction of the National library of Belarus”, passed by the Bureau of the National Academy’s Presidium.

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Good political and diplomatic ties, which had been established between Belarus and Vietnam, must be sustained on the basis of a powerful trade-economic cooperation, - said Alexander Lukashenko meeting on Monday with the secretary general of the Communist party of Vietnam Nong Dyk Man, who paid an official visit to Belarus. According to Lukashenko, the Belarusian side is ready to introduce privileged taxation for Vietnam, set up joint ventures and even sell some of the shares of the Belarusian plants, operating currently at the Vietnamese market. The other side was especially interested in the Minsk motor-cycle plant’s production, enjoying extreme popularity in Vietnam.

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Belarus’ payments for gas supplies by the Russian gas monopolist “Gasprom”, which usually took the form of homemade tractors, TV sets, fridges and other so-called liquid commodity, commenced this year too late – in mid-September. Economists claim that one cannot “digest” such huge volumes by the end of the year, which means that Belarus’ indebtedness by January 1, 2003 for utilized gas will significantly go uphill.

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The Ministry of finance of Russia intends to cut down its share in the budget-2003 of the union state, said at the press-conference in Minsk on October 11 deputy chairman of the Committee of the Federation Council for CIS affairs Leonid Lushkin. This news, he said, was made public during the recent debates on the union’s budget. The Russian government explains its decision by claiming that over the past few years the Belarusian side has been chronically failing to fulfill her commitments before the union state’s treasury. Right now its indebtedness allegedly constitutes around 1bln Russian rubles.

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Belarus will never uphold the US-led strike at Iraq, said at the Friday press-conference chair of the commission of the Belarus-Russian parliamentary assembly on foreign policy, head of the Republic’s Council of the “national assembly” of Belarus Nikolai Chegrinets.

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The Ukrainian authorities demonstrate complete transparency and readiness to cooperate with the foreign examiners. President Kuchma ordered the authorities to deliver all sorts of assistance to them and even set up a special commission for the purpose. The warlords claim that they will manifest to the visitors all “Kolchugas” on the Ukrainian soil and even invite them to the “Topaz” factory, where this weaponry is manufactured. However, opposition warns that foreign experts will be shown Belarusian “Kolchugas”, while the Ukrainian ones had long been sold to Ukraine in breach of the UN embargo. The Belarusian side categorically denies these claims and in response proposes to count their arsenal too.

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As a result of the military strike against Iraq the United States expect to reduce prices on oil to $13 per barrel, while the Russian interests will be damaged on a greater scale than as prophesized in the press. RIA “Novosti”makes this point with a reference to the original author – on Friday the news was disseminated by the Internet business newspaper “Asia Times”, which is published in Hong Kong as one of the main Asian editions of the kind.

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Igor Aksenchik, lawyer of the Zavadskys family, was sentenced to 1,5 years of imprisonment with a two-year probation period. Such a decision was passed yesterday by the Leninsky district court of Minsk. According to the verdict of the judge Valentina Krivaya Igor Aksenchik was condemned for “deliberately disseminating in mass media false and libelous statements concerning the person of the prosecutor general of Belarus Viktor Sheiman”. Aksenchik’s case consideration was held at the closed court session.

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Alexander Lukashenko met with the prosecutor general of Belarus Viktor Sheiman. In course of their conversation the prosecutor reported to the Belarusian ruler of the state of law in the country and the outcomes of the investigations, conducted by the procuracy over the past week. “Soyuz-info” was told in Lukashenko’s press-service that Sheiman informed him about the termination of a criminal lawsuit, instituted against the heads of the Presidential programs fund, who are now charged with power abuse. The case files have already been forwarded to the court.

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Leader of the Federation of trade unions of Belarus Leonid Kozik, who had previously occupied the post of the deputy head of the presidential Administration, was dismissed as co-chairman of the intergovernmental Belarusian-Iraqi commission on trade-economic cooperation. “Interfax” quotes sources in the governmental circles as saying that the concomitant ruling has been passed by the Belarusian government. His successor at the post is yet to be named.

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Secretary general of the Communist party of Vietnam Nong Dyk Man, who arrived on Sunday to Belarus with a three-day visit, was greeted with the traditional salt and bread in the Minsk National airport. The high guest was welcomed, reports RIA “Novosti”, by the first Vice-Premier of the Belarusian government Sergei Sidorsky, the Minister of foreign affairs Mikhail Khovstov and a bunch of other high-ranking officials.

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Alexander Lukashenko once again opened a nationwide campaign on the involuntary collection of means for the national construction project. This time they plan to erect in Minsk the new building of the National Library, reports the web-site of the REN TV channel.

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