The United Civil Party member, expert on election law Mikhail Plisko has answered questions of the newspaper “Vremya”. The main topic of the conversation was methods of vote rigging employed by the authorities.
[Presenter] Members of the US Congress are visiting Latvia this week. Meeting state officials, they have discussed important issues of cooperation, as well as the security situation in Iraq and the introduction of democracy to Belarus. Senator [John] McCain emphasized that the development of democracy achieved by Latvia could be a stimulus for change in Belarus` internal policy. Uldis Abolins reports:
US congressmen, the Latvian foreign ministry and Belarus’ opposition forces will combine their efforts to remove Aleksandr Lukashenko from power, the RIA Novosti news agency reported with reference to Senator John McCain.
Coordinators of the Zubr movement Alyaksey Shydlouski and Uladzimir Kobets met the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The UN Working Group was given the monitoring of human rights service of the Zubr movement, containing more than 1,500 incidents of repressions against Zubr activists. The monitoring contains names of judges, officials, policemen who are implicated in political repression sin Belarus.
In Barysau on August 22 in the night an office of local democratic forces, and at the same time the election HQ of independent candidate Dzmitry Barodka (Dmitry Borodko) was robbed. Unknown malefactors broke open two doors and seized a computer, fax and printer. The criminal case has been brought up on this fact.
On August 18 representatives of the UN Working group on arbitrary detentions visited political prisoner Valery Levaneuski at jail. The Leader of the National Strike Committee of Entrepreneurs, member of the Coordination committee of the European coalition “Free Belarus” Valery Levaneuski is imprisoned since April 2004. He is charged with libel of Lukashenka. The beginning of the trial is scheduled for August 26. the UN representatives have discussed with the political prisoner the “problems related to his illegal imprisonment in the pre-trial detention center, and criminal prosecution”, the “Charter’97” press center was informed by the press center of the National Strike Committee.
The Five Plus coalition welcomes the decision made on Friday by the pro-democracy coalitions Maladaya Belarus and Svabodnaya Belarus and the Respublika group to draw up a common slate for this October’s parliamentary elections, Anatol Lyabedzka, leader of the United Civic Party, told BelaPAN.
The celebration organized by Andrey Klimau (Klimov), former businessman and deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the 12th calling, in Minsk on August 21 in the restaurant “Zhuravinka” ended in detention and confiscation of books. The former MP invited his friends and supporters to announce the idea of his participation in the presidential elections in 2006, and to present his new book, called “Walks with a Vampire”.
Arizona Senator John McCain called Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a dictator Saturday and dismissed Belarus` planned October elections as "bogus" during a visit to Latvia on Saturday. Lukashenko, elected in 1994, has garnered Western criticism for ruling his former Soviet republic of 10 million people with an iron hand. The West accuses him of stifling dissent and the independent media.
Russian president Vladimir Putin is to meet with Belarusian President Alyaksandar Lukashenka in Sochi, told to journalists Alexei Gromov, press secretary of the Russian leader. The presidents are to discuss issues of bilateral cooperation, especially in the trade and economic sphere, RIA “Novosti” inform.
The committee of the Final (Belarusian) phase of the 4th International Moonbow Human Rights & Homo Cultural Festival 2004 had to state that the Conference on the rights of Gays and Lesbians Rights planned for August 28, 2004, was cancelled. Despite the prior agreement, on August 15 the directorate of the club “Nartsiss” denied the organizational committee premises for the conference.
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