Representatives of the three generations of freedom fighters met in Bratislava with President of USA George W. Bush: fighters against fascism, participants of non-violent resistance to communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe, and those who resist neo-authoritarianism these days.
The protest rally of market vendors has taken place in Hrodna today. About a thousand and a half of protesters came to the Lenin Square in the center of the city. Deputy Chairman of Hrodna executive committee Alyaksandr Siutsou came to the protesters and offered the vendors to create a commission for negotiations concerning VAT payment mechanism. The vendors refused and demanded to exempt them from the VAT immediately. Besides, they insist on release of the leaders of vendors’ movement, leaders of the National Strike Committee of Entrepreneurs, members of the “Free Belarus” Valery Levaneuski and Alyaksandr Vasilyeu, convicted for libelling of honour and dignity of Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and the head of the democratic movement “Hrodnenski Vybar” (Hrodna’s Choice), deputy chair of the Perspektyva Dzmitry Ivanouski, who was sentenced to 15 days of arrest for organizing a protest rally of vendors in Hrodna on February 10.
Human rights abuses in Belarus are not only an internal, but also an international problem, Adrian Severin, UN human rights rapporteur, told RFE/RL on March 1. Mr. Severin called on the international community to take a concerted action, suggesting that a big international conference should be held on the issue. The rapporteur stressed that Belarus’ human rights record has worsened lately as Minsk has rejected any idea of a dialogue.
The protest rally of market vendors on the October Square in Minsk was disbanded by riot policemen. About three hundreds of vendors came to the central square of Minsk to express their protest against the 18% value-added tax for goods from Russia. However, the protesters could stand peacefully on the square only for about half an hour. Several dozens of riot policemen arrived and pushed the people from the square harshly.
Today Participant of the protest rally of market vendors, the head of Minsk regional branch of the United Civil Party Maryna Bahdanovich was sentenced to a fine of 200 basic units (4 mln 800 thousand BYR, or 2,180 USD) by the court of the Central district of Minsk. The court found her guilty of a violation of demonstration regulations under Article 167 Part 1 of the Administrative Offenses Code. At the moment the court is considering the case of the leader of the republican public association Perspektyva Anatol Shumchanka.
The following op-ed by United States Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Co-Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) was published in The Washington Times February 25, 2005.
Minsk city Prosecutors’ Office suspended the proceedings in the criminal case against deputy head of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Harry Pahanyajla. On November 23, 2004 Minsk city prosecutor’s office initiated the criminal case against him for labelling of president, on charges relating Article 367 Part 2 of the Criminal Code (Libel against president of Belarus). The reason for launching a case was an interview of the human rights watchdog to the Swedish TV channel TV4.
Several thousands of striking market vendors, at their rally in central Minsk on March 1, adopted a resolution that called for a round-table discussion in the building of the Presidential Administration about the required payment of value-added tax (VAT) by small vendors on imports from Russia, in which Aleksandr Lukashenko and other top-ranking government officials would participate. The gathering on Minsk`s Oktyabrskaya Square also demanded the release of the activists of small business owners` associations who were arrested in the country on March 1. In addition, the resolution called on each of those present to arrive at Oktyabrskaya Square on March 25 for an anti-government demonstration and bring at least 10 persons along.
Most market vendors in Gomel joined a nationwide open-ended strike that started on March 1 over new rules for the collection of value-added tax (VAT) in trade with Russia, Tatyana Marchenko, a leader of local small business owners, told BelaPAN.
The overwhelming majority of entrepreneurs renting stalls at non-food markets in Brest walked out on March 1, with some of them travelling to Minsk to attend a rally near Aleksandr Lukashenko’s residence.
Of the 18,500 market vendors registered in the Gomel region, only 194 have submitted letters declaring their refusal to pay VAT in connection with a nationwide strike that started on March 1.
Sole proprietors must pay the 18-percent value-added tax (VAT) on imports from Russia like all other economic entities under the Belarusian-Russian agreement on the country-of-destination principle in the collection of VAT, Sergei Eismont, aide to the Belarusian tax minister, told BelaPAN on Tuesday.
Belarus’ human rights record "remained very poor and worsened in some areas" last year as the authorities continued to commit “numerous serious abuses," said the US State Department in its annual human rights report that was released on Monday. The document, which covers 196 countries, contains frequently aired criticisms of China and six states dubbed "outposts of tyranny" by the new US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice: Belarus, Iran, North Korea, Burma, Zimbabwe and Cuba.
Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine`s new president, accused his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, yesterday of covering up the murder of one of the regime`s most outspoken critics. He announced that prosecutors had arrested the suspected killers of Georgy Gongadze, a journalist whose body was found decapitated in a forest outside Kiev in November 2000. Mr Yushchenko, who succeeded Mr Kuchma in January, implied that the suspects had confessed to killing Mr Gongadze.
On March 1 the leader of the republican public organization “Perspektyva” Anatol Shumchanka was detained in Minsk. As deputy chairman of the “Perspektyva” Alyaksandr Lapatko told to the BelaPAN agency, he was detained at about 7.15 p.m. in the Uruchcha district. The leader of the vendors managed to call his assistant on the mobile phone and informed that he was blocked near one of the houses by two cars. People in mufti showed their IDs of law-enforcers, packed Shumchanka to one of the cars and taken him in an unknown direction. The leader of the vendors spent the night in the cell of police department of the Central district of Minsk. Today at 11 a.m. the court trial is to take place in the court of the Central district of Minsk. Meanwhile, the traders are going to gather today, on March 2, at noon on the October Square in Minsk.
The working party on Belarus’ admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is expected to meet in Geneva this spring, the Belarusian foreign ministry’s press office reported.
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