The representatives of the Belarusian democratic opposition, members of the coalition “Five Plus”, as well as the activists of the youth resistance movement Zubr and the “Union of Belarusian Students”, have visited Warsaw. The Belarusian democrats had a meeting with the leadership of the Polish Sejm, representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the Security Council of Poland, influential non-governmental organizations.

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Aleksandr Lukashenko blamed last year’s popular uprising in Ukraine that brought the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko to power for a slowdown in the process of Belarusian-Russian integration.

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The mother of Veronika Cherkasova, a Belarusian journalist murdered on October 20, 2004, told reporters in Minsk on April 19 that she was not satisfied with progress of official investigation.

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The European movement of Denmark named the Belarusian political prisoner Mikhail Marynich the Person of the Year, told Igor Marynich, the son of the political prisoners, leader of the civil initiative “Freedom to political prisoners!” to the Charter’97 press center. On April 16 he visited Copenhagen and took part in the congress of the European movement of Denmark.

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There will be "harsh and adequate" actions on the part of the state and society against any attempts to destabilize the situation in the country, Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko said in his April 19 address to the national legislature and the Belarusians.

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Georgia`s parliament plans to adopt an address that will be sent to the people of Belarus this week. "The parliament of Georgia is confident that the fraternal people of Belarus will be able to overcome all resistance which is being put up by internal and external retrograde forces, and this wonderful European country will not be isolated," reads the draft document.

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This year a mission has been assigned to close all the rest of the Belarusian independent newspapers, told the editor-in-chief of the “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” Pyotr Martsau (Pyotr Martsev) in his interview to “Nasha Niva”.

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The Head of the OSCE Office in Minsk, Ambassador Eberhard Heyken, today expressed regret over the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Belarus to liquidate the Independent Institute of Social, Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS).

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On 15 April Vaukavysk hunger-strikers, the businessman Mikalai Autukhovich who went on hunger strike 31 days ago, drivers and their supporters decided to stop their protest. The authorities did not wholly grant the demands of the action participants, however, they believe that they have won, because the cars owned by Nika-trans, which were suspended for more than three months, can now be used as taxis.

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Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov accused the European Union of pursuing the policy of double standards. Commenting on the EU strict resolution on the situation in Belarus, Martynov told journalists on Monday, “The problem of double standards remains vital for the EU.”

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Belarus’ national television channels and Belarusian Radio will broadcast live Aleksandr Lukashenko’s annual address to the National Assembly on April 19, said the Belarusian leader’s press office.

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April 25 issue - Russian President Vladimir Putin is now the world`s most prominent backslider on political and economic liberalization. How should the West respond? The debate took fire recently when two heavyweight U.S. senators, John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, introduced a bipartisan resolution proposing that Russia be suspended from the G8, the club of leading industrial nations, if Putin doesn`t change course. The Bush administration must decide what to do in the next few weeks.

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Paval Sevyarynets and Mikalay Statkevich are to stand trial for organizing street actions. The criminal action against the leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic party (Narodnaya Hramada), coordinator of the European coalition Mikola Statkevich, and one of the leaders of the Young Front Paval Sevyarynets were forwarded to the court of Lenin district of Minsk. They are accused of organizing mass street actions of citizens on October 18 and 19. The protest was aimed against rigged elections and referendum.

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The Belarusian side considers that the presence of Adrian Severin as special rapporteur on Belarus of the UN Commission for Human Rights would be inappropriate, Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov told reporters in Minsk on Monday. The head of the FM underlined that the Belarusian side had seen its rightness after hearing the report on Belarus by Adrian Severin.

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