OSCE Office in Minsk attentively watches over the situation development around the NGOs in Belarus, especially such as the “Independent society of legal research”, “Human rights center “Vesna”” and the Grodno public association “Ratusha”, which are all under a danger of liquidation, said the press-secretary of the Belarusian office of OSCE Haidy Smith at her press-conference in Minsk on September 25.

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Representatives of the “national assembly” of Belarus and an opposition’s delegation will both engage in another PACE session, due to be held on September 25 – October 2 in Strasbourg (France).

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On September 25 within the framework of the “Nasha Solidarnost” campaign there was held an action which attracted around 50 independent organizations, which had been either legally liquidated or are facing the liquidation motion right now. The goal of their action was to express protest to the Justice Ministry’s actions and demonstrate that despite the legal ban the organizations keep operating.

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The OSCE Office in Minsk supports the idea of changes in the electoral code of Belarus, due to occur during one year left before the parliamentary elections, the journalists were told on Thursday in Minsk by the OOM press-secretary Haidy Smith as saying. Replying the journalists’ questions concerning the recognition of parliamentary elections 2004 in Belarus, given they will comply with the currently existing laws, Smith underscored: “For the elections to be recognized as free and fair it is necessary to stick to a number of conditions, such as ensuring the rights of observers and transparency of the early voting”.

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The national public association “The Belarusian Helsinki Committee” (abbreviated as BHC) is seriously alarmed by the arrest of the president of the Belarusian Congress of democratic trade unions Alexander Yaroshuk.

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The Justice Ministry reported that the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus was denied a right to register changes and amendments into its statute.

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Lukashenko’s treatment of the Humanities Lyceum and everything Belarusian is a real ethnocide. However, the dictator didn’t expect that the passive and inert Belarusians would demonstrate their care and solidarity with this institution, that the schoolchildren and professors would manifest disobedience to his commands, writes the Moscow correspondent of the German “Frankfurter Allgemeine” Markus Vener in his article “Small Upheaval against Great Cleansing”.

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In order to introduce Russian ruble as the sole means of payment in Belarus starting from January 1, 2005, there are needed equal conditions for the two economic entities, which aren’t there, said during the Tuesday press-conference in Moscow the Belarusian ambassador in Russia Vladimir Grigoriev.

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