The court of the Kastrychnitski district of Minsk has started proceedings in action of Arkadiy Mar, who is calling himself an editor-in-chief of the American newspaper “Russkaya Amerika”, against a well-known Belarusian journalist Iryna Khalip and a private unitary enterprise “Marat”, a publisher of the “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta”. The case is to be judged by a deputy chairperson of the court of Kastrychnitski district of Minsk Ala Bulash, who had already conducted a case in a suit against the “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta”.

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Another session of the Council of Civil Initiatives “Free Belarus” took place on March 24, 2005 in Minsk. The members of the Council underlined that the authorities have increased the pressure on the civil society in Belarus.

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Yesterday the head of the OCSE office in Minks Eberhard Heiken and Ambassador of the Great Britain Brian Bennett visited former Minister of Foreign Economic Relations of Belarus Mikhail Marynich. Mikhail Marynich was serving term in the colony, and was placed to a prison hospital recently. After a visit Eberhard Heiken told that he was pleased to have a possibility to see Mikhail Marynich, especially after the reports of decline in his health. “He really looks worse than before, but he is strong in spirit,” Eberhard Heiken told.

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Relatives of Belarusian political prisoner Mikhail Marynich have received a letter from the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Belarus, an answer to their demand to bring to responsibility those guilty of deterioration of health of former minister and diplomat imprisoned in April last year.

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The administrative commission of Barysau executive committee has issued official warning to Zubr activists Alyaksandr Mauchanau and Mikhail Staravojtau. The guys were detained about a month ago for collecting signatures in support of political prisoner Mikhail Marynich.

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The KGB has made an attempt to recruit a participant of the protest action in support of political prisoners, a Zubr activist Veranika Lazouskaya. The girl was detained on March 11 during the protest rally for unfurling a poster with the words “Freedom to Political Prisners!” Two days ago by a phone call she was asked to come to Frunzenski district police department of KGB of Minsk “for a conversation”.

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On March 24 deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front Party Alyaksei Yanukevich was detained in Minsk. According to information of the BelaPAN, it happened at 8.30 a.m. not far from Vaneeu Square, by the building of the Belarusian State Economic University, where the young politician handed out bulletins about the Freedom Day on March 25. At the moment the detainee is kept in Internal Affairs department of Zavadski district of Minsk.

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Police charged Pavel Severinets, an opposition youth leader in Minsk, with organizing “public disorder” over last October`s street protests that were sparked by internationally criticized parliamentary elections and referendum.

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Kevin E. Moley, the US permanent representative to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, on March 22 called on all pro-democratic delegations to the 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights to vote for a critical resolution on human rights violations in Belarus.

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The Francisak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society (BLS) on March 23 issued a statement to greet the Belarusian people on the 87th anniversary of the proclamation of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR), which is observed on March 25.

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The Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BCDTU) plans to stage a protest in Minsk on April 13 against what it calls the government`s wage curb policy and constant increases in utility rates.

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