Belarus Newsletter No 17

1. Day of Solidarity with political prisoners, families of the disappeared opposition activists, independent journalists and all those who fight for their freedom was held in Belarus for the second time on November 16. People turned of the light in their apartments for 15 minutes at 8p.m. and lit candles.

2. The National Academy of Science of Belarus takes over the control of organizing opinion polls. This decision was formalized by the Decree of the Council of ministers of Belarus on November 8, 2005. The Commission on Public Opinion Polls by the Belarusian Academy of Science of Belarus has a right to control the activities of accredited legal entities at any stage of opinion poll conducting. (http://www.pravo.by/news.asp?type=0#2)

3. On November 1, a new law on political parties in Belarus came into force. The law particularizes the order of political parties’ creation and work and maintains control over their activities. For the first time, a norm relating to the suspension of political parties’ activities was introduced. The activities of parties can be suspended by a decision by the Supreme Court given the appropriate application of the Justice Ministry. (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/02/party)
 
4. On November 3, Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a decree authorizing him to suspend judges’ powers and dismiss them from office. According to human rights activists, this law significantly increases his manageability of the judicial system. (http://www.ng.ru/cis/2005-11-11/5_lukashenko.html)
 
5. Alyaksandr Lukashenka is confident he will win the upcoming presidential elections. “In case I am elected, I will continue doing the same things I have been doing for 10 years,” he said on November 4 during his visit to Mahilyou region. “I would not ask anybody to vote for me; people would not make a mistake, if they would not be pressed….It does not matter whether you would elect me or not. There is no getting away from it, you are to elect me, and if it suits you, I will get down to work.” (http://www.interfax.by/?id_sp=17001)
 
6. On November 10, the democratic candidate for presidency, Alyaksandr Milinkevich, and the chief of his headquarters, Syarhei Kalyakin, visited Moscow. They had a meeting with business representatives and heads of the State Duma Committees of Russia on CIS Affairs and Relations with compatriots. (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/11/milink)
 
Civil Society in Action

1. The Belarusian Union of Poles prints its magazine in Poland

2. Dmitry Zavadsky Foundation organized

3. Newspaper "Birzha Informazii" to be printed in Russia

4. Unique photo album about Minsk "The City of Sun" has been presented by Artur Klinau

1. On October 31 in Poland, the first issue of the magazine of the Union of Poles in Belarus “Magazyn Polski” was published. The magazine was previously published in Hrodna. The editor-in-chief of the magazine is a journalist from Hrodna, Andrzej Poczobutt. He has not managed to issue any copy of the magazine in Belarus.
(http://www.svaboda.org/articlesfeatures/society/2005/10/8F198B96-E45F-4B71-808C-89C7694022E7.html)
 
2. n the beginning of November, Svyatlana Zavadskaya, the wife of journalist Zmitser Zavadski who was abducted five years ago, announced the establishment of the Dmitry Zavadsky Foundation. Its aim will be to protect freedom of speech and to support independent Belarusian journalists and their families.
(http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/03/zav)

3. On November 10, after a one-year pause, another edition of the independent Hrodna-based newspaper “Birzha Informatsii” was issued. This newspaper issue was printed in Russia, as Belarusian printing firms had denied cooperation. (http://baj.ru/2005/Nov/1011nav3.asp)
 
4. On November 10, well-known Belarusian artist Artur Klinau presented a unique photo album, “A City of Sun,” consisting of more than 100 pictures. Klinau says that Minsk is a unique combination of Stalin-style architecture and ancient monuments. According to a number of art critics, it is the first time when this particular viewpoint of Minsk has been revealed. (http://www.svaboda.org/articlesfeatures/culture/2005/11/A26C6046-6ED6-4874-A4C0-A31CCC8ABE99.html)
 
… despite the repressions

1. Youth movement representatives detained for distributing leaflets

2. Lawyer Stremkovskaya denied the right to travel to Gergia for the OSCE conference

3. Political prisoner Marinich transferred to the hospital again

4. Leader of the Partnerstva group transferred from prison to a hospital

5. Independent trade unions discriminated

6. Mikalai Autukhovich, who is on hunger strike since Oct 14, denied change of the restraint measure

7. Borisovskie Novosti journalists beaten up

8. Independent newspapers not included in the subscription catalogue

9. Third Way activist not allowed to travel

10. Political prisoner Statkevich receives "home regime"
1. Youth movement representatives detained for distributing leaflets

2. Lawyer Stremkovskaya denied the right to travel to Gergia for the OSCE conference

3. Political prisoner Marinich transferred to the hospital again

4. Leader of the Partnerstva group transferred from prison to a hospital

5. Independent trade unions discriminated

6. Mikalai Autukhovich, who is on hunger strike since Oct 14, denied change of the restraint measure

7. Borisovskie Novosti journalists beaten up

8. Independent newspapers not included in the subscription catalogue

9. Third Way activist not allowed to travel

10. Political prisoner Statkevich receives "home regime"
 
1. Police and special services continue to put pressure on representatives of youth movements for their preparation of the November 16 Day of Solidarity. From November 7-8, 19 activists of different oppositional organizations were detained for distribution of leaflets, stickers, and newspapers with information about the Day of Solidarity. (http://zubr-belarus.com/index.php?id=1747&lang=1)
 
2. On October 28, Minsk city lawyers’ college denied a well-known lawyer and human rights activist, Vera Stramkouskaya, the right to travel to Georgia for participation in an OSCE international conference. This order followed the statements by the lawyer at informational conferences where she told about the necessity to reform the judicial system in Belarus. (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/10/31/george)
 
3. Mikhail Marynich’s health has deteriorated again. On October 31, he was transferred to a prison hospital. Marynich’s family members are alarmed not only to his health, but feel even that his life is threatened. (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/02/mar)
 
4. On November 1, the leader of the civil initiative “Partnerstva,” Mikalay Astrejka, was transferred from a remand prison to Minsk hospital number two. After a few days in a prison ward the human rights activist had serious kidney problems. On October 31, Astrejka and other activists were sentenced to 15 days’ arrest for holding a constitutive meeting of the public association of independent observers, “Partnerstva.” (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/02/gospital)
 
5. Independent trade unions point out another incident of discrimination. On October 26, Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed decree number 503, which stipulates that trade unions belonging to the pro-governmental Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus are granted the right for free premises. Independent trade unions are not mentioned in the decree. (www.praca-by.info)
 
6. On November 3, the court refused to change the measure of restraint for Mikalay Autukhovich, an entrepreneur from Vaukavysk, who has been on hunger strike in Hrodna prison since October 14. (http://www.svaboda.org/articlesfeatures/society/2005/11/BFAFE9C7-4E36-4010-80FA-8C7BBBE0ADC1.html)
 
7. On November 8 in Barysau, Ales Abramovich, a human rights watchdog and reporter for the independent newspaper “Borisovskie Novosti,” was beaten up.
(http://baj.ru/2005/Nov/0911nav4.asp)
 
8. As revealed on November 8, the independent newspapers “Narodnaya Volya,” “Zhoda,” and “Salidarnasts” were not included in the subscription catalogue for the first half of 2006. Beginning on January 1, 2006, Belposhta, Belarus’ state postal service, will stop disseminating these newspapers through subscription  (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/09/vlasti)
 
9. On November 9, while crossing Belarusian-Ukrainian border, Pavel Marozau, an activist of the organization “The Third Way,” was denied departure from Belarus. This decision was made despite a stamp in his passport allowing travel abroad and in the absence of legal grounds for restriction of travel outside Belarus.
(http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/10/ukraina)
Nov/1111nav3.asp)
 
10. On November 9, the administration of the special settlement transferred the political prisoner Mikola Statkevich, leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada), to a home regime. Mikola Statkevich now can live near his father in the town of Baranavichy, under the condition that he wouldn’t quit his job and would register in the special commandant’s office every day. (http://www.svaboda.org/articlesfeatures/politics/2005/11/E9574917-85DD-40F4-A235-A9F643A96DCB.html)
 
Belarus and the International Community

1. EU discusses imposing sanctions against Belarus

2. Prime Minister Ekhanurov: “Now I understand why in the 1930s German women were crying: I want a baby from the Fuehrer!”

3. US condemns arrests of the Partnerstva members and EU calls for an immediate release

4. Foreign ministries of Belarus and Germany discussed the "positive public image of Belarus abroad"

5. Belarus to receive the Russian S-300 missile systems

6. Minsk and Havana became sister cities

7. Belarusian KGD chairman visited China

8. The Russian Foreign Ministry “holds on to a firm course for supporting Belarus in the conditions of a large-scale campaign launched against it"

9. Deputy Foreign Minister and Iranian President’s Special Envory Mehdi Safari visited Minsk


1. The European Union is ready to impose sanctions against Belarus if the country’s 2006 elections fail to meet international norms, EU Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in Moscow on November 9. On November 7, at the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the EU, it was also said that the EU will impose sanctions against Belarusian political leaders. The EU could expand the range of measures against Belarus to include freezing its foreign bank accounts or visa bans, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/08/eu)
 
2. On November 1 in Washington, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov said that Ukraine is counting on the democratic character of Belarus’ presidential elections. He also mentioned his recent personal meeting with Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka. He called Lukashenka a talented propagandist who can work with the masses and made an unexpected declaration, “Now I understand why in the 1930s German women were crying: I want a baby by the Fuehrer!” (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/02/ukraina)
 
3. On November 3, the United States condemned the arrests of representatives from the civil initiative “Partnerstva.” (http://minsk.usembassy.gov/html/dep_partnership_110205.html) .On November 3, the European Union called upon the Belarusian government to release the “Partnerstva” representatives immediately. (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/04/eu)
 
4. At the end of October, representatives of the Foreign Ministries of Belarus and Germany discussed methods of molding a positive public image of Belarus abroad. The official news agency BELTA’s reporter was informed about the meeting by the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s press secretary, Ruslan Yesin.
(http://www.belta.by/News.nsf/ByRubrics?OpenView&RestrictToCategory=%CF%EE%EB%E8%F2%E8%EA%E0&Count=10&start=140)
 
5. Receiving the Russian S-300 missile systems would help improve the country’s defense four-times over, its air defense by 20%, and also enhance the joint air defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States, according to General Igor Azarenok, a commander of Belarus’ Air Force and air defense troops on November 1.
(http://www.embassybel.ru/news/policy/2005/11/02/5652/)
 
6. Minsk and Havana have become sister cities. An agreement on the establishment of sister-city relations was signed at the end of October as a result of the visit to Cuba of a Minsk delegation led by Mikhail Pavlov, chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee.
(http://www.newsvm.com/articles/2005/11/02/minsk-gavana.html)
 
7. From November 1-4, Stsyapan Sukharenka, the chairman of the KGB (State Security Committee) of Belarus, went on a visit to China for talks with the State Security Minister of China in Beijing. The information and public relations’ center of the KGB of Belarus has not commented on the visit and its reasons. (http://news.tut.by/politics/59817.html)
 
8. The Russian Foreign Ministry “holds on to a firm course for supporting Belarus in the conditions of a large-scale campaign launched against it,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin wrote in a letter to the State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, received by mass media on November 3. (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/11/03)
 
9. Deputy Foreign Minister and Iranian President’s Special Envory Mehdi Safari came to Minsk from Novemer 7-8 for a working visit. The sides agreed on the realization of agreements reached during the meeting of Iranian and Belarusian presidents in New York at the UN anniversary summit. (http://iran.ru/rus/news_iran.php?act=news_by_id&news_id=35185&new_version=1)