Belarusian delegation, headed by the president of the “Belenergo” concern Sergei Bely traveled to Iraq on October 31 in order to engage in the annual 34th international Baghdad fair. The delegation includes concern’s representatives, as well as those from other Belarusian enterprises (MAZ, MTZ, MaAZ etc). The Belarusian delegates, reports the Foreign Ministry’s press-service, will hold negotiations in the Committee for electric energy of the Republic of Iraq, dedicated to Belarus’ participation in the restoration of the Iraqi energy system’s objects.
The Interior Minister of Belarus Vladimir Naumov ruled to dismiss lieutenant-colonel Leonid Farmagei as chief of the road police department. BelaPAN was told in the Ministry of interior affairs that the man was sacked for his inability to do the job well enough.
Two Belarusian women, who were among those taken hostage by terrorists – Olga Zolina and Larisa Kravtsova – still remain on a hospital bunk in Moscow. They won’t be sent home on October 31, as planned before, BelaPAN was told by the Belarusian embassy in Russia.
Popular police movies, which have been broadcasted on TV, show that their work is not only hard and dangerous, but is also often associated with beatings and brutality. Victims of police terror oftentimes receive heavy bruises and injuries. The judicial decision on the legal action, instituted against five law-enforcers from one of the district interior forces centers of Minsk are yet another confirmation of the fact that police are widely using physical force against those in custody, just as it finds expression in the popular movies.
The conference “Belarus-Russia: new integration” resumed in Moscow on October 29 after the scandalous expulsion from Minsk of Boris Nemtsov, Irina Hakamada and Sergei Markov. The delegates discussed two topics: consequences of the terrorist act in Moscow and the Belarusian-Russian integration. The Belarusian side was represented by Mikhail Chigir, Stanislav Bogdankevich, Anatoly Lebedko, Alexander Dobrovolsky, Valentina Polevikova, deputies of the “national assembly” Valery Frolov and Vladimir Parfenovich and others; Russians, in their turn, send there deputies Irina Hakamada, Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Lysenko, as well as experts Gleb Pavlovsky, Alexander Shitko, Sergei Markov, Vyacheslav Nikonov, Sergei Karaganov and others. We asked the honored chairman of the United Civil Party Stanislav Bogdankevich, UCP leader Anatoly Lebedko and chairwoman of the United Social-Democratic Party Valentina Polevikova to comment on the outcomes of the Moscow meeting. Their opinions differed to a large degree, some of them being quite strange.
October 29 the heads of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Tatiana Protko and Garry Pogonailo finished their visit to Moscow. Within the framework of their visit the Institute of press held a press-conference of BHC members with the relatives of the missing Belarusian public figures.
An action, commemorating the International Day of political repressions’ victims, was held yesterday on the Oktyabrskaya square in central Minsk. The traditional “Chain of those who care”, reports Radio Ratsya, attracted around 30 people. Young people held in their hands the portraits of the missing and repressed Belarusian politicians and journalists. The action’s participants passed out flyers and information about the repressed Belarusians. Police didn’t intervene.
Over half – 51% – of the surveyed Minsk residents intend to take part in the elections into the local deputies’ council, due to be held in spring 2003. At the same time 21% of respondents aren’t planning to engage in them at all, while 28% couldn’t foretell their actions during the forthcoming ballot. These are the results of the poll, conducted on October 22-25 by the “Zerkalo” sociological service of the BelaPAN information company among 500 Minskers, aged 18 and over. The answers showed that the voters’ readiness to participate in the local elections has remained on the same level for over half-year now.
Action of the Vitebsk members of the United Civil Party, dedicated to the Day of political repressions’ victims, ended in the detention of all its participants. The unsanctioned picket on the Privokzalnaya square of Vitebsk lasted for only an hour.
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