German affiliate of the Amnesty International human rights watchdog called on Germans to send to Lukashenko letters with demands to immediately release all journalists of the newspaper “Pagonya” Mikola Markevich and Pavel Mozheiko and cancel the verdict, passed against the editor of the newspaper “Rabochy” Viktor Ivashkevich.
Alexander Lukashenko believes that the law “On the freedom of faith and religious organizations” is a “timely and advanced law, which puts all things where they belong de-jure and de-facto.” “We defined the role of every religious organization in our country,” – said Lukashenko on Thursday at his meeting with the members of the Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
On December 13-18, 2002 the Belarusian delegates, headed by the Foreign Minister Mikhail Khvostov, will pay visit to Syria (December 14-15, 2002) and the Kingdom of Jordan (December 16-17, 2002). As said at the briefing by the deputy chair of the Interior Ministry’s information department of Belarus Andrei Savinykh, these visits were organized upon the invitation of the Foreign Minister of Syria and Jordan.
Who’s Blaspheming? 12:59, 12/12/2002, Olga Grinevitskaya, Narodnaya Volya
We, journalists, don’t interview our colleagues too often, especially when these colleagues are ranked higher than us. However, this time we made an exception and addressed for commentaries the chairman of the National TV company Egor Rybakov, director of the Second National Channel’s board Grigory Kisel and STV director general Alexander Zimovsky. The first question was this: “Would you ring alarm bells in case of your wife’s or children’s disappearances?”
On December 10 the administration of the Frunzensky district court of Minsk convened the leaders of religious communities, registered in that district in order to get them familiarized with the new legislation on the freedom of conscience. The meeting also attracted the head of the department for religions and nationalities of the Minsk city hall Alla Rabitsova. The woman told the audience that since that very day Bible studies in apartments can be organized not without the official sanction, for Bible studies at home are also regarded as church services.
In course of the formation of the territorial electoral commissions for holding elections into the local councils of deputies, they managed to attract the maximum wide spectrum of the political society, claims the CEC secretary of Belarus Nikolai Lozovik. According to him, at present Belarus set up 1,673 commissions: 1,440 in the provinces, 78 – in towns and 117 – district ones. In total 13,448 people are engaged in their activities throughout the country. 72,6% of the commissions’ members are females. Only 11% of the commissions’ members are under 30 years of age. Lozovik added that political parties are represented by 61 individual: 21 from the Communist Party of Belarus, 19 – Party of Communists of Belarus, 5 – Narodnaya Gromada, 11 – Liberal-Democrats, 2 – Agrarian Party, 1 – UCP, Belarusian Patriotic Party and Social-Democratic Party of national reconciliation.
Inmate of the Ivatsevichi colony Alexander Chigir has been recently convoyed off to Minsk, where they charged him with illicit entrepreneurial activities in addition to his previous indictment for alleged car thefts. If they hold trial on the matter and pass an accusatory verdict, the young man will get another three years of jail.
Mogilev region finished the process of forming 221 territorial electoral commissions on the elections into the local councils of the 24th convocation. The electoral commissions include 1,982 people. Out of them the political parties are represented by three persons, while public organizations – by 27. In particular, the regional electoral commission will include representative of the Liberal-Democratic Party, Mogilev electoral commission – chairman of the Party of Communists of Belarus, Krasnopolskk district commission – member of the Communist party of Belarus.
Ahead of the Catholic Christmas a few dozen thousand immigrants will try to illegally cross the Belarusian-Polish border. Belarusian frontier guards, law-enforcers and troops were ordered to stop patrolling the border with Poland. Illegal plan to transport refugees was concocted by KGB, reports the most popular and authoritative Polish weekly “Wprost” in an article “Lukashenko’s Avalanche”.
Starting from January 1, 2003 Belarusian nationals will be able to visit Latvia and Lithuania only through entry visas. BELTA was told by the Interior Ministry’s press-secretary Dmitry Parton that individuals, who are traveling to Lithuania via the Kaliningrad region must have Lithuanian visas on them. Belarusians can obtain it in the Lithuanian embassy of Minsk and Lithuanian consulate in Grodno.
The Belarusian government dismissed from the occupied posts directors of 6 large enterprises – head of the Svetlogorsk poultry farm Gramovich, Kletsk cannery Bukato, Novopolotsk company “Izmeritel” Reshko, Minsk “Termoplast” Karpilovich, Zhlobin garment factory Sereda, Gomel construction company Renchikov and director of a Pinsk state company Kolodich. RIA “Novosti” was told by the press-secretary of the Belarusian Prime-Minister Ivan Znatkevich that the Council of Ministers passed such a decision in connection with the “irresponsible attitude of these directors to the fulfillment of their working obligations and failure to observe payment discipline for the consumed energy resources”.
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