Incumbent authorities use various methods to fight human rights activists :: Charter'97 :: News

The incumbent authorities are afraid of the opposition actively consolidating before the Presidential Elections in 2006, and so undertake various measures aimed at not only criminally or administratively punishing the activists, but also vilifying the Belarusian opposition activists or just damage their activity. The end justifies the means, as they say.

The chair of Brest Region Office of the Human Rights Center Viasna Uladzimir Vialichkin noted the regularity of the misunderstandings occurring to him as he acts a public and political person. He says: "Now in Belarus a campaign of nominating delegates to the All-Belarusian Congress has started, which plans to select a single opposition candidate for the presidential elections in 2006. In the morning on 3 July after gatherings of people in Malaryta and Zhabinka Districts, Brest Region, I saw a flat tire on my car. I thought that was a coincidence. But no! The day after the gatherings in Kamientsy and Pruzhany – broken window in my car! I attended all of these gatherings and saw connection between these incidents and the gatherings. This looks like a pattern. For some reason these accidents happen to my car during election campaigns. During the elections in autumn 2004 they cut the tires and loosened nuts on them. During the presidential elections in 2001 brakes failed twice and the oil filter loosened itself out of place. All these places are quite easily accessible in a closed car. For me broken car locks are the first evidence that the Presidential elections 2006 have already started".

On 5 July 2005 the chair of Brest Region Branch of the Human Rights Center Viasna Uladzimir Vialichkin appealed to Maskovski Borough Board of Internal Affairs of Brest, requesting that the people who in the night of 4 and 5 July broke the car locks and stole the car radio be found and persecuted under the law.

The information department of "Viasna"