There have passed 5 months since Mikhail Marynitch, a well-known politician and public figure was put into a KGB isolation ward. Again the law-enforcement agencies are to decide on prolonging of the arrestee’s imprisonment term this week. Meanwhile, Marynitch may be charged with a new accusation of embezzlement. Marynitch is known to have been detained by the law-enforcement officials and put into a KGB inquiry isolation ward on April 26. Still, the arrested has been accused of illegal weapons storage only.
Aliaksandr Lukashenka ordered to establish propagandist groups from members of the “vertical”. The republican group, headed by the vice-speaker of the Parliament Uladzimir Siamashka, consists of 18 persons. In Minsk City Executive Committee there are five such groups, according to the number of vice-heads of the committee. 46 more groups were established in district administrations. Each of them includes 10-15 heads of vertical services, departments and boards. All these groups received special compilations of materials for agitation concerning referendum and the election into the Chamber of Representatives of the Republic of Belarus, elaborated by the institute of social and political studies of presidential administration. The referendum compilation consists of 28 pages. On 23 September Minsk propagandists will begin their agitation in working collectives. The referendum compilation includes the history of referendums and the results of the country’s development for the 10 years of Lukashenka’s rule – what the propaganda needs and can say to people. In the conclusive article is even said that the prolongation of Lukashenka’s rule is the result of the “favorable political, social and economical situation” he created.
The central election commission on September 21 agreed with a district election commission in Grodno to deny registration as a parliamentary candidate to Tadeush Gavin (Tadeusz Gawin), the founder of the Belarusian Union of Poles.
September 6-16 saw a frantic period of activity in Belarus, as candidates applied to the Central Election Commission to be registered for the October 17 election to the House of Representatives. Unlike the parliamentary race in 2000, all opposition parties except for the Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front decided to enter the contest. However, many key opposition figures were denied registration due to technicalities, while others were subjected to harassment and intimidation.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) lashed out at the Belarusian media over bias in covering the parliamentary campaign citing the results of a recent survey.
The doors of the Belarusian Social-Democratic Gramada Vitsebsk office, where usually the Vitsebsk initiative “For Constitution Defense” held its meetings, appeared to have been sealed up. Seals were found at the doors of the offices of the Belarusian Social-Democratic party “Narodnaya Gramada” and the United Civil Party that have their premises in the same edifice in Gertsyna Street, 107.
Oppositionists who were trying to hold a picket for boycotting the Parliamentary election and the referendum were detained in Vitsebsk. They were conveyed to the Railway militia district with posters “Keep away from election and referendum – you will be betrayed!” and “The best means against falsification - empty electoral districts”.
A total of 19 students of the closed European Humanities University (EHU) have been admitted to more than a dozen colleges and universities in the United States, according to the web news source newsise.com.
— Swarthmore College is hosting two students from Belarus this year whose university was recently closed by the former Soviet republic’s government. More than a dozen colleges and universities around the country are hosting a total of 19 such students. Swarthmore is one of two colleges in Pennsylvania to do so; the other is Cabrini College, which is hosting one.
The Association of Full Gospel Christians in Belarus has petitioned the authorities to recognize several provisions of the Religion Law as inconsistent with the constitution and international standards.
Russia and its partners in the Eurasian Economic Community need to stamp out corruption and promote greater transparency if they want to attract more foreign investment, U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said Tuesday.
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