Opposition Parties Urge Non-Recognition of National Assembly :: Charter'97 :: News

Leaders of the Belarusian opposition parties Anatoly Lebedko (United Civil Party), Sergei Kalyakin (Party of communists of Belarus, Alexander Bukhvostov (Belarusian labor party), Stanislav Shushkevich (Belarusian Social-Democratic Gromada) and Valentina Polevikova (United Social-Democratic Party) passed on January 29 a statement, in which they mention deterioration of a political climate in Belarus and declared inadmissibility of the “national assembly’s” legitimization. Following read an excerpt from their statement:

Statement from the Leaders of Opposition Parties of Belarus

Belarus has not fulfilled a single one of the conditions set by OSCE and other international organizations some years ago for the democratization of the country. The ruling Belarusian regime refuses to fulfill even new demands put forth a year ago, that is the repeal of the death penalty and the institution of the human rights ombudsman’s office.

Furthermore, in 2002, the ruling regime has take a course of worsening repression against civil society. The main blow has been dealt to the independent media. Through the authorities’ efforts, newspapers have been closed: “Pahonia,” “Nasha Svaboda,” “Svobodnye novosti,” and “Mestnoye vremya.” As a result of unfavorable economic and political conditions, the newspapers “Den’,” “Belaruskaya maladzyozhnaya,” and “Rabochy,” have ceased to come out. This year, the new leadership of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus have fired all the journalists from the trade-union newspaper “Belaruski chas.” Three journalists – Mykola Markevich, Pavel Mazheika and Viktar Ivashkevich – have been tried for “offending the honor and dignity of the president” and are now serving sentences of compulsory labor.

The trade unions have been taken over by the state. L. Kozak, the deputy chief of administration of the president, is now heading the Federation of Trade Unions. The independent trade union movement has been crushed, and the FTU is now starting the battle against dissent. The staff (apparat) of the federation is being made up of officials from the administration of the president and the special services (intelligence). President Lukashenko openly calls for the need to “integrate” the trade unions “into the system of government authority.”

Under pressure from the presidential administration, two youth organizations were consolidated into one, the Belarusian Republican Union of Youth. This analogue of the Komsomol is financed from the state budget. It has been handed the task of taking under control the youth movement in the country.

The Union of Writers of Belarus has forcibly removed five literary-artistic journalists and the newspaper “Literatura I Mastatstva.” They have been united into a government holding company and people who are loyal to the president have been put in charge of them.

A second line of struggle against spiritual pluralism is the passage of the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations,” oriented toward establishing a privileged position in the country of the Orthodox Church and violating the rights of other confessions. This Belarusian Concordat of sorts has become a continuance of the line of statification of the Orthodox Church, begun eight years ago.

If we add to this picture the repression of political parties and rivals (the sentencing of Mikhail Chigir, the short-term sentence for Pavel Severinets, the criminal investigation of Anatoly Lebedko, the threat by the Ministry of Justice to close the United Civic Party, the refusal to register the United Social-Democratic Party, etc.), the harassment of small businessmen as well as the defenders of the mass grave at Kuropaty, then a very clear tendency can be seen of the totalitarization of civic life.

The campaign already underway for the local elections confirms this tendency: it is taking place under undemocratic conditions. Just to cite one example: out of 72,328 members of the local district electoral commissions, only 162 people are representatives of parties. Only 1/3 of these 162 in turn are representatives of opposition parties; 2/3 represent pro-government parties.

It is important to note that the Belarusian government perceives the agreement with the OSCE to reinstate the OSCE mission in Minsk as a diplomatic victory for itself. Officials claim that the very fact of the substantive change in the mandate proves that OSCE has conceded all the claims of the Belarusian government against the previous OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Mission, and has recognized that the change in the political situation in Belarus is for the best.

The main conclusion which Minsk officials have drawn for themselves in this regard is that if they display firmness and refusal to back down in their relations with the West, they can achieve victory and force their Western partners to retreat. Then there is no reason to change their domestic or foreign policy, if the previous political course has yielded such a good result.

We view the new mandate of the OSCE mission in Minsk not as a concession on the part of the Belarusian regime, but as the international community meeting Lukashenko half-way.

We note that not a single one of the points of resolution No. 1306, passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2002, has been implemented, and that means there is no basis – neither legal or political or moral – for legitimizing the National Assembly in international organizations. Furthermore, such a decision just 18 months before the next parliamentary elections only strengthens the position of Lukashenko’s candidates.

We are convinced that any step to meet official Minsk should only be made under conditions when they are making steps halfway, real actions to democratize civic life in the country. Otherwise, concessions on the part of the West only reinforce the dictatorship in Belarus and significantly make difficult the situation of the democratic forces in opposition to the Belarusian regime.

Leaders of the Opposition Parties of Belarus:

A. Lebedko, United Civic Party

S. Kalyakin, Party of Communists of Belarus

A. Bukhvostov, Belarusian Party of Labor

S. Shushkevich, Belarusian Social-Democratic Hramada (Assembly)

V. Polevikova, United Social Democratic Party (unregistered)