On January 12 public association Frantsishak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society received a notification of community services about cancellation of a contract of renting premises at Rumyantsav Str., 13. Housing and communal service of the Partisan District demands Frantsishak Skaryna Society to leave the building in two months, informs human rights center “Viasna”.

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A Parliamentary Troika, comprised of representatives of the European Parliament, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will visit Belarus in the end of January. During their visit, the delegates plan to get to know the political situation in Belarus. Presumably the Parliamentary Troika will be represented by chairs of the Ad Hoc Committees on Belarus, Mrs. Uta Zapf (PA OSCE), Mr. Jonas Cekuolis (PACE) and Mr. Jan Marinus Wiersma (the European Parliament). Last time the same representatives of the European institutions visited Belarus in 2001.

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Last year in Belarus saw an all but total elimination of press freedom and increased repression against NGOs, a leading human rights advocate in the impoverished former Soviet republic told a press conference late Friday. "That year saw a final `purge` of independent media," including Russian television channels reporting from Belarus, said Lyudmila Gryaznova, of the leading local human rights defense association Human Rights Alliance.

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Aksana Novikava, who was sentenced to a suspended prison term in April 2003 for insult of president Lukashenka, received two more summons for her participation in peaceful protests, informs the human rights center “Viasna”.

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