“The new draft law on media will also deal with the Internet editions. One must be doing that too and define their legal framework. I cannot undertake anything with regard for the owner of web-edition, even if it runs false and distorted data,” – said in an interview to “Sovietskaya Belorussiya” the Minister of information of Belarus Mikhail Podgainy.

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US military aggression against Iraq will bring about the split of the world community, provoking another wave of war conflicts, said in an interview to “Interfax” on Tuesday the head of the commission for international affairs and national security of the upper house of the Belarusian “parliament” Nikolai Cherginets.

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Four Belarusian nationals – Ludmila Gryaznova, Dmitry Bondarenko, Andrei Sannikov and Leonid Malakhov were recognized by the Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience. As is known, they all had been arrested for 15 days. One can only marvel at the position of the OSCE, whose mission is said to have been operating in Minsk for two months. In my view, the core essence of their position is the lack of clear position. Lukashenko’s regime once again cracks down on human rights and the OSCE mission doesn’t care…

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Belarus’ Iraqi policy seems to become a real irritant for USA. Moscow correspondent for the Austrian “Salzburger Nachrichten” writes with a reference to the US diplomatic sources that by his audacity Lukashenko pushes Washington to consider the possibility of applying analogous scenario in relation to Minsk.

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The Belarusian authorities restrict and violate the right of their citizens for the peaceful assemblies, guaranteed by the Constitution and international human rights agreements, ratified by Belarus. The authorities detained and arrested organizers of the social protest People’s March “For Better Life”, held in Minsk on March 12, 2003, which reveals the state’s fear of mass manifestation of social protest.

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The first spots in the rating were taken over by countries with the greatest level of the freedom of speech – that is France, Spain, Norway, Netherlands. The rating was published by the “Reporters without frontiers”, which allocated this information at the web-site www.rsf.fr. The United States occupy 17th place there, Tajikistan – 86, Kirgyzia – 98, Azerbaijan – 101, Ukraine – 112, Kazakhstan – 116, Uzbekistan – 120, Russia – 121, Belarus – 124, Turkmenistan – 126. The research has been carried out in 139 countries of the globe. The only exception was made for Georgia and the Baltic states due to the lack of information on them.

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Belarus upholds the peaceful resolution of the Iraqi crisis, said at March 17 meeting with the Iraqi ambassador in Belarus Salman Zeidan the head of the official trade unions Leonid Kozik. The sides touched upon the issues of economic cooperation between Belarus and Iraq, along with the looming US military invasion into Iraq. According to both sides, Iraq fulfills all provisions of the UN resolutions and so there’s absolutely no grounds for unleashing combat actions. Kozik underscored that the States should not interfere into Iraq’s sovereign affairs.

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Dutch affiliate of the human rights watchdog “Amnesty International” submitted a written address to Alexander Lukashenko, raising concerns over the arrest of the organizers of the People’s March “For Better Life!” Ludmila Gryaznova, Andrei Sannikov, Dmitry Bondarenko and Leonid Malakhov. AI views them all as prisoners of conscience and insists on their immediate and unconditional release.

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