One of the founders of the European Coalition “Free Belarus”, a famous lawyer Halina Drebezava was visiting the USA on November 10-14, where she took part in the international conference “Rights’ Defenders’ Activities”. The conference took place on November 10-14 in Atlanta, GA. Jimmie Carter’s Center was the organizer.

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On November 27 Polatsk Region and City Court fined the famous rights’ defender and one of the founders of the European Coalition Valery Schukin for 10 basic payments, 165 000 Belarusian rubles or $80. Judge Natallia Abramava announced the defender guilty for the violation of two articles of the administrative codex - Article 166 (disobedience to the police) and Article 156 (hooliganism). On November 26 Valery Schukin was detained by the police in the edifice of Polatsk City Executive Committee for an attempt to meet with Minister of the Internal Affairs of Belarus Uladzimir Navumau, who received citizens in Polatsk.

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Famous rights’ defender, one of the founders of the European Coalition “Free Belarus” Valery Schukin was detained by the police in the edifice of Polatsk City Executive Committee. Schukin was trying to meet with Minister of Internal Affairs Uladzimir Navumau, who received citizens in Polatsk.

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Belarusian publishing houses refuse to publish the newspaper “The Day”. One of its editors is Mikola Markevich, a former chief editor of the closed Hrodna paper “Pahonia”.

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The participants at the conference on Libel and Insult Laws, organised by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and held in Paris (France) on 24-25 November 2003, discussed existing libel legislation in OSCE participating States. They took into account international standards relating to freedom of expression, including article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and shared standards and commitments of OSCE participating States. They focused on decriminalising libel and repealing insult laws that provide undue protection for public officials.

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On November 26 the Ministry of Justice made a warning to the Belarusian Social Democratic party “Narodanaya Hramada” and requires Biarestse regional branch to be liquidated, as Radio Freedom reports.

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It stood out in a sea of flags and banners. "Gotov Je," the sign said. "He`s finished," it meant. But the message, strangely enough, was in Serbian, not Georgian. The Georgian opposition movement modeled its campaign on the popular uprising that deposed Yugoslavia`s president, Slobodan Milosevic, in October 2000 and even adopted its slogan. Opposition leaders traveled to Belgrade for advice and brought their Serbian counterparts to Tbilisi. Thousands of Georgians were trained in the techniques honed in Belgrade. And the opposition persuaded Georgia`s independent television network to air a documentary on the Serbian uprising not once but twice in the last 10 days.

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The last poll conducted by the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies in September brought a lot of interesting figures. So, for example, the polled were asked “ If you knew a person who could successfully compete with Lukashenka at next presidential elections, would you vote for them or for Lukashenka?” The responses sound as a verdict for the current president, even at the countryside; where there used to be more supporters, there is 53,1% ready to vote against him. The situation is no better among senior citizens. We should note, that the housing and communal services did not rise in price in September. The price increased in the middle of October after they started heating. It will lead to considerable changes in the results of future polls. Here are the distribution of the responses about Lukashenka’s alternative depending on age, education, residence and type of the place of living.

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