Opposition activists Vyachaslaw Sivchyk during the protest action on October 21 was served a writ to come to the Central police department of Minsk on October 22 at 10 a.m. The writ was given personally by deputy chief of the Central Police department. However, the politician could not come to police department today, as he had fallen ill. He informed the district police officer about it. As we have informed, yesterday for the forth time a protest action against rigged results of parliamentary elections and referendum was held in Minsk. Nobody was detained.
According to evidence of activist Yaraslaw Navumenka, who was detained on October 19, in the police buses the detainees were “thrown on the floor and thrashed soundly”. Y. Navumenka told about these facts in court, but judge of the court of Lenin district Tserashkova hadn’t pay any attention to the information about tortures and sentenced him to 3 days of arrest. Another detainee, a student of one of Minsk higher education institutions, told that they were thrown to the floor of the bus and “they were well and truly stamped on with policemen feet”. But judges again were not interested in this fact. Lawyer of the human rights center “Viasna”, Valyantsin Stefanovich, representing the detainees in the court, told that these trials were notable for judges’ refusals to summon witnesses.
The Alliance of the Democratic Left (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej, SLD) of Poland with concern draws attention to not democratic course of election campaign and voting to the Belarusian parliament, as well as of constitutional referendum, which represent and intention to legitimatize the authoritarian rule of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The SLD strongly protests against arrests and mistreatment of Belarusian oppositionists, including Mikola Statkevich, chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party “Narodnaya Hramada”.
Former US Ambassador in Belarus Daniel Speckhard, currently Deputy Assistant Secretary General of NATO, Director of Political Affairs Division, expressed his solidarity with the participants of the protest actions in Minsk. He expressed his respect to arrested demonstrators: the BSDP (NH) leader Mikola Statkevich, leader of the Young Front Pavel Sevyarynets, Zubr activists and other activists arrested by the authorities. Mr.Speckhard wished them courage and determination, steadfastness in their struggle.
Anatoly Chubais, Unified Energy Systems (UES) joint-stock company CEO said that realization of joint projects with Belarus would be geared to the results of the investigation of the facts of journalists’ beating up in Minsk during opposition rally on October 19. On October 21 in his interview to the program “Country and World” of the Russian channel NTV A.Chubais, who is also the chairman of the board of the REN TV company, demanded leadership of Belarus to carry out “official investigation”, “to punish culprits” and “to make apologies to those who has suffered from the obvious violation of the law by authorities’ representatives”.
The Parliamentary election and the republican referendum in Belarus were conducted with numerous violations of the national electoral legislation and international standards. The falsifications and manipulations that were committed during the electoral campaign resulted in the wave of fair protest of the country’s citizens. That’s why the authoritarian regime in Belarus started an unheard assault on human rights and liberties.
The External Policy and Security commissioner of the EU Javier Solana expressed “serious concern” in connection with the information that the peaceful political rally in Minsk was disbanded on October 19”.
On October 21 in the town of Byalynichy Zubr coordinator in Mahilyow region, Aleh Myatselitsa was sentenced to 7 days of administrative arrest. Policemen arrested him at about 12 a.m. in the street. The Byalynichy police department representatives refused to comment on under which circumstances and for what reason he was detained.
U.S. President George W. Bush has signed legislation titled the Belarus Democracy Act. The act includes sanctions prohibiting U.S. federal agencies from rendering any financial aid to Belarus, except for humanitarian assistance. It also calls for renewed U.S. assistance for groups supporting democracy and human rights in Belarus and for radio and television broadcasts that do the same. In a statement late yesterday, Bush said that under President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Belarus is becoming a "regime of repression in the heart of Europe." The signing followed by three days the passage of a constitutional referendum that permits Lukashenka to run for a third term in 2006. RFE/RL examines the impact of the Belarus Democracy Act.
The Bush administration may impose sanctions against leaders of the former Soviet republic of Belarus as part of a broader range of punitive measures, the State Department said Thursday. Spokesman Richard Boucher said other sanctions under consideration include a ban on bilateral assistance and on U.S. support for loan requests by Belarus in international financial institutions, such as the World Bank.
Reporters Without Borders has voiced alarm as working conditions plunged to a new low with security forces arresting and beating journalists during elections and then at opposition demonstrations.
The German government together with the European Union and the OSCE will consider steps to be taken "to strengthen Belarus’ civil society and ensure respect for human rights and democratic freedoms there," said Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Berlin, the Frankfurter Allgemeine reported on October 20.
The development of small and medium-sized businesses in Belarus is impeded by authorities’ bureaucratic practices and an unfavorable environment, said Jan Sadek, head of the Swedish diplomatic office in Minsk, at a conference on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises held in Minsk on Thursday.
Andrei Shantorovich, chief editor of the private newspaper Mestnaya Gazeta (Local Newspaper) in Volkovysk, Grodno region, was in the second day of a hunger strike on October 21 over the information ministry`s decision to suspend his paper for a month.
Imposing sanctions against Belarus is not a good tool to solve the problem, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Kazakhstan`s Almaty on Thursday, while commenting on the Belarus Democracy Act signed by the US president George W. Bush into law the previous day.
The central election commission has forwarded campaign ads allegedly distributed by several pro-democracy candidates for examination to the Prosecutor General`s Office.
A journalist working for an opposition newspaper was stabbed to death in her home in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, her family said Thursday. Veronika Cherkasova, 44, had worked for independent media outlets for the past 15 years. She wrote most recently for the newspaper Solidarnost, which she joined in May 2003.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Thursday condemned the jailing in Belarus of critics of a recent vote that paved the way for the country`s hardline leader to keep power indefinitely.
Germany will seek further contacts with Belarus, German Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Belarus Martin Hecker said in Minsk on Wednesday. "We are ready for cooperation even more as we see the need for such cooperation," Hecker said, commenting on prospects for bilateral ties in the wake of the Belarussian parliamentary elections and referendum, the results of which have met with a mixed reaction in Europe.
The head of the Russian State Duma International Affairs committee Konstantin Kosachyov said that the West`s evaluation of the recent parliamentary elections and referendum in Belarus is becoming more and more of "a politically pre-determined character."
The Belarus Democracy Act signed by the U.S. president confirms a policy which is actually aimed at overthrowing the Belarussian authorities, Political Research Institute Director Sergei Markov told Interfax on Thursday.
On Thursday the Central Election Commission of Belarus declared valid the republican referendum on changing the constitution and lifting terms limits for presidency, thus giving Alyaksandr Lukashenka a possibility to run for the third term. As said by the Central Election Commission representatives, 79.42% from the people entitled to vote voted for the proposal submitted for referendum on October 17. However, according to the authoritative Gallup Organization Baltic Surveys, the final result is 48.4% of electorate supported Lukashenka’s proposal. It means that at the referendum Lukashenka was not supported by half of people entitled to vote to change the constitution and lifting two-term limit for president. And it also means that the official data was blatantly forged. For four days protest rallies are held in Minsk in this connection. The Belarusian do not want to put up with the flagrantly deceived them and deprived of the possibility to choose the fate of their country themselves. Despite of the arrests during the protest rallies, the Belarusians continue to come out to the streets. Today at 6 p.m. people who do not want to tolerate the outrageous fraud will gather again.
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