INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - BELARUS UPDATE :: Charter'97 :: News

Edited by Victor Cole
Vol. 7, No. 6
February 2004

IN THIS ISSUE:
-Local Police Detains Three Activists
-KGB Ignores Appeal By Families Of Disappeared
-U.S.: Civil Society In Belarus Under Attack
-PACE Does Not Restore Belarus Special Guest Status
-Opposition Holds Protests Against Poverty
-International Democratic Forum Discusses Situation In Belarus
-Journalist Fined For Human Rights Internet Postings
-Authorities Stop Local Opposition Newspaper Distribution
-Regional Independent Weekly Censored
-Another Independent Weekly Suspended
-Regime Censors Russian TV Broadcast
-Authorities Shut Down Jewish Educational Institution
-Authorities Harass Evangelical Communities
-Three Baptist Leaders Fined
-New Ideology Course Introduced
-Market Vendors Go On Hunger Strike
-U.S. Ambassador: People Should Decide
-Poll Finds One In Four Belarusians Support Dictator
-Russia, Belarus Urge NATO Not To Deploy More Nukes
-UN To Increase Assistance To Chernobyl Victims In Belarus

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS --

LOCAL POLICE DETAINS THREE ACTIVISTS

On January 29, Alyaksandr Kazakou, Alyaksandr Peralyhin, and Pavel Paddubny, all members of the Borisov, the Minsk Region, branch of Zubr, an unregistered youth opposition movement, were arrested while distributing Pravo Na Svobodu [Right to Freedom], an informational bulletin of the Viasna Human Rights Center, reported the movement’s website. The activists were charged with distribution of non-registered publications under Art. 172 of the Belarusian Administrative Offenses Code and taken to the Borisov City Internal Affairs Directorate, where a police report was filed on them. (Zubr, January 30)

KGB IGNORES APPEAL BY FAMILIES OF DISAPPEARED

The Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) has failed to respond to the January 22 appeal by the wives and mothers of the disappeared, reported Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Belarusian Service. The families requested an independent investigation into the alleged involvement of Viktor Sheiman, Prosecutor-General; Yury Sivakov, former Interior Minister and current Minister of Sport and Tourism; Vladimir Naumov, Interior Minister, and other officials. On January 27, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) unanimously ratified a report on political disappearances in Belarus prepared by Rapporteur Christos Pourgourides, who has made similar recommendations (see Belarus Update, Vol. 7, No. 5). “We have learned that the document was not properly registered in the secretariat and sent directly to Leonid Yerin, KGB chair,” commented Gary Pahanyayla, a prominent human rights attorney. (RFE/RL, February 4)

U.S.: CIVIL SOCIETY IN BELARUS UNDER ATTACK

On February 5, addressing the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Amb. Stephan M. Minikes, U.S. OSCE Representative, said that the United States shares the concern expressed by the EU regarding the onerous tax assessed against the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC). On January 28, after conducting a number of tax audits, the Minsk Moskovsky District Tax Inspection ordered the BHC to pay 380 million Belarusian rubles (about $176 000) in back taxes and penalties (see Belarus Update Vol. 7, No. 5). “The BHC is a valuable member of the NGO community and the grounds for the assessment appear to threaten the international donor community’s programs for Belarus,” said Minikes in the statement. “Respect for NGOs is enshrined in OSCE commitments. We are concerned this action represents another assault upon civil society in Belarus,” the Ambassador added. The BHC’s leadership described the demands as “an attempt to economically strangle the human rights watchdog” and plans to appeal the decision in court. (OSCE, February 5)

PACE DOES NOT RESTORE BELARUS SPECIAL GUEST STATUS

On January 30, heeding the pleas of the Belarusian opposition leaders (see Belarus Update, Vol. 7, No. 5), the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (CoE PACE) decided not to restore guest status to Belarus, suspended in January 1997 following the controversial November 1996 constitutional referendum. (CoE, January 30)

OPPOSITION HOLDS PROTESTS AGAINST POVERTY

On February 1, the Party of Communists of Belarus (PKB), the opposition Communist party, the Belarusian Labor Party, the Lenin Young Communist League (Komsomol) and the unregistered Communist Party of Bolsheviks held an authorized picket on Bangalor Square in Minsk to protest widespread unemployment, poverty and rising utilities costs, reported Belapan. The picketers held up posters saying “Lukashenko, Go Build Market Socialism on the Moon!” and “The Regime Can Only Guarantee Poverty and Extinction of Belarusians.” “The Rise In Utility Rates Has Now Considerably Outpaced The Actual Rise In Wages And Pensions.” A similar demonstration took place in Gomel. (Belapan, February 1)

INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FORUM DISCUSSES SITUATION IN BELARUS

On February 6, about 200 delegates, including five U.S. congressmen, Ukrainian, Polish and Czech parliamentarians, media representatives and prominent human rights activists, attended an international conference titled “Future of the Democracy outside the Baltic states,” held in Riga, Latvia, reported Charter 97. The Belarusian democratic opposition was represented by Nikolai Statkevich, coordinator of the European Coalition Free Belarus, Anatol Lebedka, leader of the Five Plus electoral bloc; Valery Fralou, pro-democratic deputy of the Belarusian Parliament; Dmitri Bandarenka, Charter 97 movement coordinator; Irina Krasouskaya, wife of Anatol Krasousky, a missing Belarus opposition leader. At several seminars and round-tables, the participants discussed the political situation in Belarus ahead of this year parliamentary election. (Charter 97, February 6)

-- MEDIA FREEDOM IN BELARUS --

JOURNALIST FINED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNET POSTINGS

On February 2, Judge Natalia Vaitsehovich of the Minsk Tsentralny District Court fined Natalya Kalyada, a journalist and Charter 97 member, 20 minimal wages ($150) for allegedly violating Art. 167 of the Belarusian Administrative Offenses Code (participation in activities on behalf of an unregistered organization), reported Charter 97. The journalist was punished for human rights monitoring and posting the related reports on the Charter 97 website. On January 15, Kalyada was summoned for interrogation to the Office of the Public Prosecutor (see Belarus Update Vol. 7, No. 3). “All Kalyada has done is speaking out against numerous human rights violations in Belarus,” wrote Robert Menard, head of Reporters without Boarders, an international press-freedom watchdog, in an open letter to Viktor Golovanov, Belarusian Justice Minister. “By punishing her for writing articles on the Internet, Judge Vaitsehovich sends a disturbing message to human rights defenders and journalists,” said Menard. “In a country where the independent press is subjected to permanent pressure by the authorities, the Internet provides Belarusians with the only access to uncensored news and information. We strongly condemn this attempt to gag the free Belarusian press on the Internet,” Menard concluded. (Charter 97, February 2-5)

AUTHORITIES STOP LOCAL OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER DISTRIBUTION

The regime continues to use its virtual monopoly on newsprint production, newspaper printing and distribution to restrict dissemination of opposition viewpoints, reported RFE/RL’s Belarusian Service. Following the order from the Information Ministry, the Grodno Region branch of BelSayuzDruk [The Belarusian Post Service] refused to distribute Dzyen [The Day], Belarusian-language independent newspaper printed in Smolensk, Russia. Mikola Markevich, Dzyen’s editor-in-chief, said that the editorial staff will attempt to distribute the newspaper in Grodno, using their own distribution means. (RFE/RL, February 3)

REGIONAL INDEPENDENT WEEKLY CENSORED

Ahead of the 2004 parliamentary election, the authorities are increasing harassment against independent media, including open censorship, requiring some independent publications to remove stories and forcing them to publish blank pages or advertisements, reported Belapan. On February 4, without notifying the editorial board of Volnaye Hlybokaye [Free Glubokoye], an independent weekly with a 3,500 circulation, the Molodechno, the Minsk Region, printing house removed an article by journalist Yaraslau Bernikovich about the seventh congress of the BNF Adradzhennie. It was not the first time when the printing house forced the Volnaye Hlybokaye’s staff to abandon its sharp reporting and embarked on a path of self-censorship. Last year the newspaper’s editor-in-chief was warned after running an article about the 1920 anti-Bolshevik uprising in Slutsk, the Minsk Region.
The League notes that in the past, the authorities made a series of promises to ensure absence of censorship and freedom of speech. It is obvious today that those promises were yet another attempt to misguide the international community. (Belapan, February 4)

ANOTHER INDEPENDENT WEEKLY SUSPENDED

The Belarusian Information Ministry continues to fulfill Lukashenko’s order to “bring the opposition press to its senses,” reported the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ). On February 5, the Ministry warned Zgoda [The Concord], a Minsk-based independent weekly with a circulation of 3,000 copies, for “multiple Press Law violations.” The newspaper was accused of changing without notification its legal address and being published only in Russian and Belarusian, while its license included more languages. The Ministry has suspended Zgoda’s publishing for one month. (BAJ, February 6)

REGIME CENSORS RUSSIAN TV BROADCAST

The Belarusian authorities decided to considerably cut broadcasting of Russian programs on ONT, Belarusian first TV channel, reported www.materik.ru, the Moscow-based Commonwealth of Independent States Institute’s info-analytical internet portal. According to the portal, starting February 3, the Belarusians will only be able to watch censored version of Vremya [Time], a highly popular newscast. (www.materik.ru, February 3)

-- RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN BELARUS --

AUTHORITIES SHUT DOWN JEWISH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

On February 5, the Belarusian Education Ministry closed down the International Institute for Humanities, the only higher education institution in Belarus that teaches Jewish studies, reported Belapan. The institute was opened on donations from various international Jewish organizations and currently has 475 students. After the Education Ministry had issued an order to suspend the institute’s activities last September, the Belarusian State University offered the Institute to join the university as a department. While Jewish leaders were willing to accept the proposal as long as the curriculum would be unchanged, the Education Ministry found the plan unacceptable. “It is a most serious blow to Jewish education in Belarus,” said Yakov Basin, Minsk representative of the Union of Councils of Soviet Jews. “As of today, Belarus does not have a single Jewish state-run school ... so the termination of the International Humanities Institute means the liquidation of public Jewish education as a whole,” commented Leonid Levin, President of the Belarusian Union of Jewish Communities. (Belapan, February 5)

AUTHORITIES HARASS EVANGELICAL COMMUNITIES

The authorities has stepped up a campaign of harassment to curtail the growth of evangelical religions in Belarus, reported Viasna Human Rights Center. The Union of Evangelical Faith Christians reported a growing number of incidents in which the local authorities sent their representatives to schools to prohibit the students to attend the evangelical religious services, Last October, Stanislav Buko, chair of the Committee of Religious and Nationalities Affairs (CRNA), sent a strong-worded letter directed against the activities of evangelical churches to the Nesvizh District Executive Committee, the Minsk Region. The letter has recommended to streamline registration and re-registration for all religious groups, increase control over their activities based not only on the restrictive religion law, but also on executive decrees. (Viasna, January 30)

THREE BAPTIST LEADERS FINED

Viktar Yeutyukhou, Aleh Kurnosau and Kanstantsin Yerameyau, all pastors of an unregistered Baptist community, were fined from $8 to $40 each for allegedly “founding and heading an unregistered religious organization,” reported Forum 18 News Service, a religious freedom watchdog based in Oslo, Norway. Established in 1962, the International Union of Baptist Churches adheres to a strict principle of separation of church and state. It means, none of its current 3,705 congregations throughout the former Soviet Union, including 286 in Belarus, are registered with the authorities. (Forum 18, February 5)

-- AT HOME IN BELARUS --

NEW IDEOLOGY COURSE INTRODUCED

As Aleksander Lukashenko once mentioned, ideology in Belarus is the “government’s main priority and is not subject to privatization.” In an interview to Itar-Tass, a Russian news service, Nadezhda Ganuschenko, Belarusian Education Ministry’s Humanities Department head, said that a new required course titled “Foundations of Ideology” would soon be introduced in all Belarusian colleges and universities. According to Ganuschenko, the Management Academy affiliated with the Lukashenko administration has finished training the course lecturers. (Itar-Tass, February 5)

MARKET VENDORS GO ON HUNGER STRIKE

On February 2, seventeen market vendors at a Vitebsk’s shopping center went on hunger strike, protesting unlawful seizure of their merchandise by the authorities and an increase in taxes and insurance fees. They also want the city authorities to reduce the list of goods subject to mandatory certification. The next day, thirteen more people joint the strikers. “Authorities have declared war on us,” said Anatol Shumchanka, chair of Perspektyva [Perspective], a local association of small business owners. On February 5, market vendors in Novopolotsk, Polotsk, and Orsha, the Vitebsk Region, Rechitsa, the Gomel Region, and Volkovytsk, the Grodno Region, rallied in support of their Vitebsk colleagues. (Belapan, February 5)

-- ELECTION 2004 --

U.S. AMBASSADOR: PEOPLE SHOULD DECIDE WHO THEY LIKE

On February 4, in an interview to Interfax, a Russian news service, George Krol, the U.S. Ambassador to Belarus, said that in order to hold free and fair parliamentary election the Belarusian government should encourage the development of political parties. “Belarusian citizens should have the opportunity to hear representatives of all political parties and decide which of them would best protect their interests,” Amb. Krol said. “An extremely weak media sector is a serious drawback to the country’s political system,” the Ambassador added. (Interfax, February 4)

POLL FINDS ONE IN FOUR BELARUSIANS SUPPORT DICTATOR

Alexander Lukashenko’s public support has fallen to its lowest level in ten years, with barely more than one in four people saying they would vote for him in the next presidential election, a public opinion polling group said on February 2. The survey by the Minsk-based Independent Institute of Socioeconomic and Political Research showed Lukashenko’s support level at 27 percent. The poll also found out that 49 per cent of respondents believe the country is moving “in the wrong direction.” “The results of the survey demonstrate that the majority of Belarusians look forward to changes in the country’s leadership and are ready to vote accordingly at the parliamentary and presidential elections,” commented Aleh Manaeu, Institute Director. The poll was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,494 people across the country. (Charter 97, February 2)

-- BROTHER SLAVS --

RUSSIA, BELARUS URGE NATO NOT TO DEPLOY MORE NUKES

During a February 2 meeting in Moscow, Igor Ivanov, Russian Foreign Minister, and his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Martynov signed a program of joint foreign policy agreement for the next two years. Russia and Belarus “will continue cooperation with NATO in the formation of a European system of equal and indivisible security,” says the agreement. The two sides intend “to focus attention on the NATO’s need to honor its commitment not to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of new member states of the alliance, and not to permanently deploy substantial combat forces.”

Last year, Lukashenko urged the ex-Soviet members to create “a powerful military-political organization” comparable to NATO. He also hinted at an eventual thawing of his own country’s future relations with NATO, but he stopped well short of endorsing any step toward membership, saying that closer cooperation depends on the depth of NATO’s assistance with problems caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Belarus is actively updating its army, and a massive overhaul is due to be completed by 2005. Minsk had been particularly alarmed at the fact that Belarus’ neighbors Poland, Latvia and Lithuania are stepping up their armed forces in hopes of joining the NATO military alliance. (RIA news agency, February 2)

-- INTERNATIONAL NEWS --

UN TO INCREASE ASSISTANCE TO CHERNOBYL VICTIMS IN BELARUS

On February 2, Jan Egeland, UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Aid, promised to increase the United Nation’s development assistance to the Belarusian regions affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in neighboring Ukraine, reported Interfax. Under the new assistance program, several European countries and NGOs will cooperate with the Belarusian governmental agencies and NGOs to help in overcoming the consequences of the disaster, said Egeland. (Interfax, February 3)

-- NOTABLE QUOTES--

“We should optimize and streamline our government,” Aleksandr Lukashenko, announcing that the Interior Ministry would lay off 3,000 staffers. (www.president.gov, February 6)

-- UPCOMING EVENTS --

February 10 - Russia-Belarus Union State Council of Ministers meeting in Moscow, Russia;

February 11 - Putin and Lukashenko to consider draft Russia-Belarus Union State Constitution and the introduction of the Russian ruble in Belarus at a Supreme State Council meeting, in Moscow.

************************************************************************
The Belarus Update is a weekly news bulletin of the Belarus Human Rights Support Project of the International League for Human Rights, www.ilhr.org. The League, now in its 62nd year, is a New York-based human rights NGO in consultative status with the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the International Labor Organization. Letters to the Editor: vcole@ilhr.org, subscription services and back issues: otarasov@ilhr.org

The Belarus project was established to support Belarusian citizens in making their case for the protection of civil society before the international community regarding Lukashenko`s wholesale assault on human rights and the rule of law in Belarus.