On August 10 former Polish President Lech Walensa had a meeting with students of the Belarusian Lyceum, which works in Gdansk in August. Mr.Walensa noted that for him “there is no Belarus without Europe, as well as there is no Europe without Belarus”. He underlined that the Poles are ready to help the Belarusians in their struggle for freedom, but the future of the Belarusians should be built by their own hands, not expecting assistance from the East or the West.
Belarusian oppositionists do not exclude that Ukrainian citizens are to be the next after the Poles to face detentions. This consideration has been expressed by the deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front Ales Mikhalievich in the interview to the Ukrainian TV channel “5 Kanal” on Saturday.
Today members of the “Young Front” will meet their Zmitser Dashkevich and Artur Finkevich, who are to be released after a 10-days arrest for unsanctioned picket in front of the Polish Embassy in Minsk on August 5. The picket was held under the motto of Polish-Belarusian solidarity.
August, 15 is the birthday of the Belarusian political prisoner, chairman of the All-National Strike Committee of Vendors, member of the Council of Civil Initiatives “Free Belarus” Valery Levaneuski. He turns 42 today. Family and relatives, activists of the All-National Strike Committee, the steering committee, the press center of the Charter’97, the Council of the Civil Initiatives “Free Belarus”, colleagues and friends, businessmen and vendors wish him health, courage in his struggle for freedom and democracy in Belarus, and also a quick release.
On August 12 an action in support of independent newspapers “Barysauskiya Naviny” and “Kurjer iz Borisova” was held in Barysau. First these newspapers were denied distribution through the state network, and later it was forbidden to sell them in the streets. Barysau oppositionists demand to stop pressure on independent newspapers. The journalists of “Barysauskiya Naviny” and “Kurjer iz Borisova”, as well as several dozens of activists of the youth movement “Zubr” and the “Young Front”, civil initiative “Volat” gathered in the central square of the town, in front of the city executive committee. In their hands protesters were holding issues of independent newspapers, popular among the inhabitants of the town.
The deputy of the so-called “chamber of representatives” of the previous convocation Mikalay Skutau is sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment. On August 12 this verdict was passed by the Supreme Court of Belarus, that examined the case of the former deputy head of the parliamentary commission on industry.
The Economic Court of Minsk ruled to evict the Belarusian Free Trade Union from the office situated in the building ¹ 24 in Zakharau Street, in behalf of the renter, the Housing maintenance and municipal services division of the Partyzan district of the capital.
Eight Ethiopian pilots who had sought political asylum in Belarus but were rejected by the Minsk government earlier this week have turned up safe in another European country, a source said Friday.
On 12 August Zinaida Bartsevich, judge of Hrodna Kastrychnitski Borough Court, sentenced Tadevush Havin, one of the leaders of the Union of Poles in Belarus, to 15 days of jail.
The eminent Belarusian academic, Professor Yury Bandazhevsky, was conditionally released from prison on 5 August, after serving four years of an eight year sentence. Speaking to Amnesty International, Yury Bandazhevsky said that he is now spending his time getting used to his freedom and looking into work possibilities. He was released suddenly under a recent amnesty declared by President Lukashenka on 5 May, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
On 15 August the well-known politician Paviel Sieviaryniets must go to the town of Vietryna in Polatsk district where he will spend the two years of personal restraint to which he has been sentenced.
On 10 June 2005 Andrei Klimau was found guilty in organization of the oppositional action that took place on 25 March 2005 in the center of Minsk and sentenced to 18 months of personal restraint. Since 22 April 2005 Klimau was kept in the investigative isolator, that’s why the term of the personal restraint is decreased to 15 months. In August Minsk City Court considered the cassation complaint against the sentence and left the previous verdict in force.
On 4 August Siarhiei Skrabiets had a meeting with his wife and son at the investigative isolator in Valadarski Street in Minsk. The meeting lasted for about 50 minutes.
At August, 05 the police detained five members of Young Front for a picket in support of the Union of Poles in Belarus, held near the Polish Embassy in Minsk. Dzmitry Dashkievich, Artur Finkievich, Nastasia Palazhanka, Dzmitry Rabchyk and Antanina Viezhaviets were taken to Minsk Partyzanski Borough Board of Internal Affairs. Most probably they will be charged with participation in unauthorized action. At the same time, members of the pro-presidential youth organization Belarusian National Youth Union (BRSM) picket the embassy for the 4th day already, expressing their support to the authorities by sawing the log of freedom between Belarus and Poland.
No more than a year passed since the last rewarding of Dmitry Pavlichenko – a commander of military unit 3214, a colonel, a man, who is considered one of the main figurants in Yuri Zaharenko’s, Viktor Gonchar’s, Anatoly Krasov’s and Dmitry Zavadsky’s disappearance case.
At 5.30 p.m. on 12 August the action of support to the newspapers Barysauskia Naviny and Kurier iz Borisova started in Barysau. These editions were first deprived of distribution through the state distribution net. Then it was prohibited to street vendors to send these newspapers outdoors. The editorial boards go to court almost every day to attend consideration of suits against their newspapers. Workers of Barysauskia Naviny and Kurier iz Borisova, representatives of Zubr, Young Front and Volat movements came to the central square of Barysau, opposite the executive committee, with newspapers in their hands. Despite the cold weather several dozens of citizens came to the square to support the editorial board of the independent editions.
UCP press room found out from their special information source in the Red House that on the last week Minister of Internal Affairs excoriated his subordinates. The case is, that once in a quarter MIA does secret questioning, and its results go only to Lukashenko, Security Council and KGB. So the last questioning showed that 70% of Belarusian population doesn’t trust militia officials, thinking of them as of thieves, bandits and blackmailers.
Oke Peterson, the former Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine, has been appointed Head of the OSCE Office in Minsk and is expected to take up his post on 29 August. Ambassador Peterson`s diplomatic experience includes missions to Russia and Eastern Europe, the United States, Africa and south-eastern Europe.
Reporters Without Borders would like to share with you its concern about the action of the Belarusian authorities in preventing Polish journalists and journalists from Belarus` ethnic Polish minority from freely working on several occasions since March. The frequency of these press freedom violations has increased since 6 July.
`Europe`s last dictator," as the Bush administration has aptly tagged him, is up to it again. This time, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has gone after ethnic Poles living in western Belarus, accusing them of "fomenting revolution." On Wednesday, Lukashenko sent riot police to seize the headquarters of an association that represents the 400,000 Poles and hauled in several leaders for questioning. Poland then pulled out its ambassador in Minsk, charging Lukashenko with trampling on human rights. The state-run news media in Belarus have often accused Poland of using the Polish minority in Belarus to stir up a revolution like the "orange revolution" in Ukraine a year ago, something Lukashenko has vowed to block. When dictators of his kind start identifying minorities as enemies, there is every reason to be alarmed.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said during his trip around the Minsk Region Friday that he was sure of victory in the country`s elections in 2006. Lukashenko said his nation would support him. "Why wouldn`t they? We did nothing bad, we did not rob the country," he said.
Minsk said Monday that it had warned that foreign diplomats traveling to the country to "provoke national discord" would be stopped, as was a European Parliament delegation last Monday.
A Polish photojournalist was expelled from Belarus on Saturday and banned from the country for five years. The Committee to Protect Journalists said today it is disturbed by the expulsion of Adam Tuchlinksi, 25, of the weekly news magazine Przekroj.
The weekly Wprost has a forceful visual comment on the conflict between Poland and Belarus on its frontpage. It shows Belarus authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko with a clown’s red ball of a nose and communist-era paraphernalia. Funny but also a sinister front page. Wprost says that both Lukashenko and Russian president Putin needed a war with Poland. But first a pretext had to be found and a handy pretext appeared when the Union of Poles in Belarus democratically elected new leaders, who were not ready to toe Lukashenko’s line. The first stage of a cold war against Poland, the aim of which was to see how the European Union reacts, brought encouraging results for its political organizers in Moscow. The test was conducted on Poles but Wprost is convinced that next on Russia’s list are the Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians.
The continuing dispute between Belarus and Poland appears to be reaching a climax, as Poland has recalled its ambassador from Belarus and appears to be considering the expulsion of the Belarusian ambassador to Poland. The conflict follows a police raid on the headquarters of the Belarusian Union of Poles (BUP) and the detention of several leaders of the organization.
The European Union is set to provide cash for opposition parties in the former Soviet republic of Belarus. Western leaders fear that president Alexander Lukashenko, widely regarded as Europe`s last dictator, will attempt to influence next year`s presidential election in order to stop pro-Western or pro-reform candidates taking power.
On August 11 Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a decree “On amendments to the presidential decree of September 25, 1996, ¹ 382”. The document is aimed to stimulate the initiative and social activism of students of higher and specialized secondary education through adding bonuses to scholarships of the students actively participating in extracurricular activities.
President Aleksandr Lukashenko is cracking down on adoptions of Belarus children by foreigners, calling the practice "a national disgrace." "Our children should be brought up and educated in Belarus," said Lukashenko. "Adoption by foreigners should be maximally reduced."
Laila Petruzziello and Salvatore Baldi built their family`s dream into the very walls of their Huntington home. The couple and their daughter, Marissa, 9, renovated a corner room, stuffing it full of dolls, pajamas, barrettes, a potty chair, two small beds and an ornate rocking chair in anticipation of the arrival of two orphaned sisters from the former Soviet republic of Belarus.
Alyaksandr Tataryntsaw, director-general of the private Djem Bank, has been arrested on a charge of abuse of office brought by the State Control Committee (SCC)`s department for financial investigations.
A decree signed by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says accession to the Kyoto Protocol will benefit the country and allow it to contribute to the prevention of climate changes, get access to financial resources in the green house quota market, raise its international standing, and seek further integration into the European and world community.
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