An attempt to recruit an activist of Zubr took place in Asipovichy. Zubr activist Mikhail N. was detained by KGB (Committee of State Security) officers on Monday, May 3 in Asipovichy.

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On May 12 the representative of the Republican Public Association “Alternative-21” Syarhei Balykin and Valery Fadzeew, chairman of the Republican Public Association “Legal Initiative”, former deputy chairman of the Constitutional Court, signed and handed to the lawyer of Mikhail Marynich, Vera Stramkowskaya, the petition about releasing Mikhail Marynich Under their personal guarantee.

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The arrest of a renowned public figure and politician, Mikhail Marynich, is yet "another proof of the deteriorating situation in the realms of human rights and civil society in Belarus," the press secretary of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office in Minsk, Heidi Smith, said today at a news conference. "It is particularly worrying in the light of the forthcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2004," she stressed.

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The Chairman of the United Civil Party (UCP) Anatol Lyabedzka was fined 100 basic units (1 million 900 thousand Belarusian rubles($800)). This decision on the administrative case was made on May 12 after four hours of consideration in the court of the Soviet district of Minsk, by judge Ruslan Kazdaew.

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The Head of the OSCE Office in Minsk, Ambassador Eberhard Heyken, criticized a TV documentary recently shown on Belarusian state television as an "open slander of key opposition politicians". "The Road to Nowhere" a 40-minute documentary shown on 11 May, linked prominent opposition figures to images of civil unrest and fascism during World War II.

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The European Commission has made public a strategy document outlining ways of building closer ties between the EU and its "new neighbors" to the east and south. he paper -- which will need to be formally approved at the EU`s summit in June -- says the bloc is ready to proceed quickly with Ukraine, Moldova, and a number of Mediterranean countries. It also recommends the inclusion of the three countries, but sees no hope of a closer relationship for Belarus as long as its present government stays in power.

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