The suit against the deputy editor-in-chief of the “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” (BDG) Irina Khalip (Iryna Khalip) and publisher of the newspaper, a private unitary enterprise “Marat” has been considered today in the court of Kastrychnitski court in Minsk. The suit of honor protection was initiated by US citizen Arkadiy Mar. Today the plaintiff has demanded a compensation amounting to 1 million US dollars.
Today Aliaksandr Lukashenka stated that he would hold consultations with the highest officials, members of the government, his advisors and heads of national mass media monthly. He told about it on April 8 during the first consultation of this kind, dedicated to the results of the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Two weeks after the seizure of four computers from the Minsk-based private weekly Zhoda, the official reasons for the move and the fate of the equipment remain unclear. Police and Committee for State Security (KGB) officers seized the computers, including those given by the US embassy for temporary use, in a raid on March 24, saying they acted in response to a complaint by an unidentified person about the periodical`s subversive activity.
The Committee on Appropriations of the US Senate has voted to recommend $70 million for an additional amount for "Assistance for the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union," of which $5 million would be made available for democracy programs in Belarus.
Former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski considers that a negative tendency is observed in the Russian-American relations in the long-term perspective. In the relations of Russia and USA “little has changed essentially”, the sides are continuing cooperation, but as for the tonality, atmosphere and relations in a long term future, the negative tendency is obvious, says Zbigniew Brzezinski in his interview to the Izvestia. To his mind, the real cooperation between Russia and the USA is possible only if Russia would become a true example of democracy. Z.Brzezinski has also expressed criticism of the foreign policy of Russia, noting “fruitless attempts of pressure on Georgia, support of separatism in Abkhazia, the unexplainable attempts to stop democracy in Ukraine, a support of undemocratic regime in Belarus”.
The reporter of the British “Jane’s” Information Group has recently visited Belarus to prepare the report on the state of affairs in the Belarusian special services. “Jane’s” is engaged in collection of information and preparation of analytical materials in the sphere of security, defence and risks evaluation. It is said in the report that after the last year’s October parliamentary elections and referendum Alyaksandr Lukashenka has increased his power through unstoppable reorganization of the state security system. The Radio Svaboda informs about the content of the report.
Friday, April 1, 9 p.m. The world was grieving over the news from Vatican: the Pope’s condition is extremely bad. I am trying to get information from different sources.
The Tovarishch (Comrade), the weekly published by the Belarusian Party of Communists, has resumed publication after a nearly six-month break caused by the refusal of Belarusian companies to print the paper.
“Europe has managed to work out a common approach to Belarus. And this approach is critical of the Belarusian authorities. We have not recognized the results of recent elections and referendum. We expect from Belarus the measures that not only would stop eradication of the traces of democracy, but would start its revival,” told vice-chairman of the European Parliament Janusz Onyszkiewicz in his interview to the Pahonya newspaper. “The pressure on the Belarusian authorities is taking place, and it is to continue,” the politician assured.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Thursday played down the scandal that emerged in relations with Belarus and Cuba after President Viktor Yushchenko signed with his US counterpart George W. Bush a declaration calling to promote freedom in the two countries and in Iraq.
A poll, conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Study Center in late February, found that 35 percent of the Russians interviewed believe that their country has been consolidating its positions in Belarus, while 28 percent think the opposite.
Twenty-eight percent of Russians believe that a popular revolt is likely to take place in Belarus, a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Study Center suggests.
Today is the 25th day of hunger strike of entrepreneur Mikalay Autuhovich. Body temperature and blood pressure dropped Yesterday. He says that lost 14 kilograms of weight. Drivers, traffic controllers and other citizens keep hunger strike with him. One more women joined to hunger-strike. Her name is Maryna Hitryk. Earlier she was an intern in the enterprise.
More than 7,000 people would be eligible to amnesty under the bill proposed by Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko, Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov said at a meeting with professors and students at Belarusian State University (BGU) on Thursday.
State authorities in Minsk, Belarus` capital, have given the charismatic New Life Church a second official warning under the religion law, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Under the law, two official warnings are sufficient grounds for banning the church. The latest warning states that the church`s pastor, Vyacheslav Goncharenko, organised and held "prayer readings and sermons on premises not specially designed for the holding of religious events… without corresponding permission from the [state] administration…" The church is appealing against this, arguing that the court hearing was accompanied by procedural violations so it cannot be grounds for either an official warning or liquidation. Procedural violations included insufficient time to prepare a defence due to delivery of the court summons on the eve of the midday hearing, and admission of only seven out of 100 defence witnesses due to the small size of the courtroom – and only after the verdict was announced. The official warning was issued after Pastor Goncharenko`s conviction for "illegal" religious activity and a fine imposed on him of 30 times the monthly minimum wage.
A Protestant community of some 1,300 people has come under the threat of closure after receiving the second official warning from the Minsk city authorities in less than four months.
A judge of the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a complaint filed by the Francisak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society (BLS) against the justice ministry’s warning.
An evening party on the occasion of the 95th birthday of Barys Kit, an outstanding Belarusian mathematician, physicist, chemist, philosopher and educator, was held at the Writer`s House in Minsk on April 6.
Dear Colleagues. Remember, please, you are expected to refer to the Charter`97 Press Center when using the site materials. News export , javascript-informer
, javascript-informer
