Belarus in “Human Rights Watch” Report :: Charter'97 :: News

Last year the government of Belarus continued to exert pressure on opposition, NGOs, independent mass media outlets and religious minorities, underscored “Human Rights Watch”.
The report of this human rights watchdog reads that the terrorist attack on America on September 11, 2002 distracted the attention of the international community from questionable presidential elections in Belarus, thus enabling Alexander Lukashenko to intensify crackdown on civil society, not fearing international repercussion.

Lukashenko’s opponent at the presidential ballot, candidate from opposition Vladimir Goncharik had to leave the post of the chairman of the Federation of trade unions. Head of Goncharik’s election crew Valentina Polevikova also had to give up against her will one of the leading posts in the Federation of trade unions.
One of Lukashenko’s famous opponents, former Prime Minister Mikhail Chigir was sentenced to three years of conditional imprisonment, reminds the report.
In July they sued over libel the head of the United Civil Party Anatoly Lebedko, who wrote an article, implicating the authorities in arms trade with rogue states.
In course of the year three journalists were condemned for alleged slandering the incumbent: editor-in-chief of the closed newspaper “Pagonya” Nikolai Markevich, journalist of the same edition Pavel Mozheiko and editor of the newspaper “Rabochy” Viktor Ivashkevich.
Last year the newspaper “Nasha Svaboda” was fined $55thsd in a defamation lawsuit, filed by the chairman of the Committee for state control Anatoly Tozik. The newspaper’s bank accounts were frozen, while in August the periodical ceased existence.
Throughout the year the authorities significantly restricted the freedom of assemblies, harshly punishing the participants of unsanctioned mass rallies. In March they sentenced to 10 days of arrest the leader of the Social-Democratic Party “Narodnaya Gromada” Nikolai Statkevich for organizing an action on the Day of Constitution. Dozens faced administrative arrests and fines for their involvement in the March 25 Freedom Day protest and April Protest March “Can’t Live Like That!”.
Aspiring to control all spheres of public life, reads the HRW report, the Belarusian authorities severely clamped down on the religious freedom. The most vivid example of that is the Law on religions, passed in October. Moreover, in the Grodno region they demolished the temple of the Belarusian Autocephalous Church, arresting and fining the believers, who sought to protect the building. Same fate befell Krishna and Hindu followers.
Last year also saw trial over the persons, suspected of abducting the journalist Dmitry Zavadsky. However, the relatives of the missing man were dissatisfied with the verdict, claiming that the convicts simply executed the order of top officials.
Last year the US Department of State for a second year in a row called the situation with man trafficking in Belarus “the worst in the world”. They unleashed repressions against NGOs, forbidding by a decree the use of foreign financial aide. On the basis of this decree they confiscated the equipment of the Gomel affiliate of the “Civil Initiatives” organization, while the head of it Viktor Kornienko faced a fine. The authorities also liquidated public organizations through denying them registration license. This happened to “Vezha” and “Association XXI”.
The policy of the Belarusian government in the year 2002 was directed at the suppression of the political opposition, causing a deeper self-isolation of the country, concludes the influential international human rights organization “Human Rights Watch” in its annual report.