Belarus newsletter No14
In Focus
1. Single presidential candidate from the democratic opposition elected at the Congress in Minsk
2. Lukashenka: NATO conduct electronic spying
3. European Parliament passed another strong-worded resolution on Belarus
4. Lukashenka: basic human rights violated in Europe
5. Bomb explosion in Vitebsk: 50 persons injured
1. On October 1-2 in Minsk, the Congress of Democratic Forces of Belarus was held, and a single candidate of democratic forces to run in the presidential elections in 2006 has been chosen. Alyaksandr Milinkevich has been elected. (http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/10/03/pobeda) On September 26, before the Congress, Belarusian oppositional politicians signed an agreement that all forces represented at the Congress will work in one team and signed a declaration of oppositional movement. http://www.ucpb.org/rus/show1prel.shtml?no=7150
2. According to Lukashenka, Poland and the Baltic countries have already turned into places where NATO conducts electronic spying. He said that the large-scale program of radio broadcasting to Belarus had been already declared and promoted. “The Armed Forces of the country must be able to repulse any potential aggression, no matter what its origin is,” Lukashenka said.
http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/09/30/strah
3. On September 29, the European Parliament passed a strong resolution on the human rights situation in Belarus.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2005/09/30/rez
4. Alyaksandr Lukashenka believes it is right that Belarus has not been seeking admission to the EU. He said so on September 23, addressing the 39th congress of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union. As he said, as soon as the new Eastern European nations joined the EU, “the processes not understandable for the people started. If we have joined this European process, we would have the same situation the Baltic and other states have now.” Lukashenka said that even today basic human rights are violated in Europe.
http://www.charter97.org/rus/news/2005/09/23/eu
5. On September 22 in Vitebsk, a homemade bomb masked as a beer can and packed with metal nails exploded. 50 people were injured and hospitalized with missile wounds and crania-cerebral traumas. http://bdg.press.net.by/2005/09/2005_09_27.1562/1562_1_1.shtml
Civil society in action
1. Assembly of the pro-democratic NGOs presents results of the large-scale opinion poll
2. New chairman of the Belarusian PEN-center elected
1. On September 26, in the headquarters of Brest regional youth organization “Dzedzich,” representatives of the Assembly of NGOs held a presentation of the results of a large-scale opinion poll for the representatives of non-governmental organizations. At the meeting, the prospects and the role of democratic NGOs in the political campaign of the year 2006 were discussed. http://belngo.info/cgi-bin/i.pl?id=1124
2. On September 29 poet, Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu was elected a new chairman of the Belarusian PEN-Centre.
http://www.svaboda.org/xml/articles/2005/09/EDABAF69-A4F3-4074-B47D-5F2BD4039891.html
…despite the repressions
1. Belarusian Evangelical Church liquidates by the authorities
2. Political prisoners Mikhail Marinich denied early release
3. KGB searches apartments of the opposition activists in Vitebsk
4. Protestan church pastor fined for attending a "not authorized" church service
5. The Ministry of Justice issued a new decree regulating activities of the movements, coalitions and civil initiatives
6. Political prisoner Klimov departed to serve his 1,5 sentence at the collective labour camp in Krupki
7. Political prisoner Skrabets transferred to a prison hospital
8. Narodnaya Volya and Delovaya Gazeta newspapers fined
1. On September 20, Minsk city court liquidated the Belarusian Evangelical Church because of an absence of a legal address. The church was registered at the home address of the pastor of the church, which is prohibited by law. Earlier, the court liquidated a Calvinist church. A Protestant New Life church is also under threat of liquidation.
http://www.afn.minsk.by/news/news.asp?d=21&m=9&y=2005&id=64968#data
2. On September 22, a commission on early release questions of Minsk colony number 1 considered a case of a political prisoner, former Minister and diplomat Mikhail Marynich. He was denied early release for the second time. Marynich has had a stroke while in prison, and his eyesight has significantly deteriorated.
http://www.svaboda.org/articlesfeatures/politics/2005/9/EABD549D-8D78-4D24-ACCF-08270976377C.html
3. On September 24, police and KGB searched the apartments of oppositionists in Vitsebsk who belong to Zubr movement, the coalition “Young Belarus,” the United Civil Party, and the Young Front. The representatives of authorities said that they were looking for explosives in an investigation of a bomb blast in Vitsebsk on September 22. During the searches, leaflets, newspapers, national white-red-white flags, and information carriers were confiscated.
http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/09/26/bomba
4. On September 23, the court of the Maskouski district of Minsk fined the pastor of the Protestant church “New Life,” Vasil Yurevich, 160 basic units (about US $2,000). He attended a church service that had not been authorized by the authorities. http://newlife.by/News80.php
5. On September 13, the Justice Ministry issued a decree on obligatory registration of movements, coalitions, and initiatives. As a consequence, the range of legal oppositional activities has been limited even more. Independent mass media would not be able to write about oppositional movements and coalitions that are not registered by the Justice Ministry.
http://www.br.minsk.by/index.php?article=25693
6. On September 22, a deputy of the Supreme Court of the 13th convocation, Andrei Klimau (Klimov), departed to serve his sentence of two years of personal restraint, or corrective labour in the settlement of Krupki, Minsk region. The political prisoner will work as a street cleaner for a cinema in the settlement of Krupki. The politician had been sentenced to a year and a half of personal restraint for organizing a protest rally under slogans of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s resignation. http://www.charter97.org/bel/news/2005/09/29/klimov
7. On September 23, a political prisoner, former deputy and a leader of the deputy group “Respublika” Syarhei Skrabets, was transferred from the Minsk remand prison to the republican prison hospital. Syarhei Skrabets’ state of health deteriorated after three weeks on hunger strike in protest against baseless charges against him.
http://www.svaboda.org/articlesfeatures/society/2005/9/B56ED381-3317-4297-B23B-0F75CF22DA87.html
8. On September 28, the printing house “Krasnaya Zvezda” and the state distributor “Belsajuzdruk” refused to print and distribute the only independent daily in Belarus, the “Narodnaya Volya.” The property of the newspaper was distrained, and alienation of property under execution is prohibited. A big lot of paper has been taken, and the operating account of “Narodnaya Volya” is blocked. The newspaper is being fined for moral damages for publishing an article about the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Syarhei Hajdukevich, and his alleged cooperation with the regime of Saddam Hussein. At the moment, the whole sum of the fine is paid off.
http://baj.ru/2005/Sep/2809nav3.asp
On September 30, the court ruled to collect Br 50 million (more than US $23,000) from the editorial office of “BDG. Delovaya Gazeta,” and Br 5 million (US $2,270) from journalist Syarhei Satsuk on behalf of a common citizen. The court has partially sustained the claim of Syarhei Byadrytski, a former riot policeman. The suit was filed to defend honor and dignity and to compensate moral loss inflicted by the article about a criminal action against the riot policeman. http://baj.ru/2005/Sep/3009nav5.asp
Belarus and international community
1. EU prolonged the entry ban for a group of the Belarusian officials
2. OSCE discussed the Belarusian question in Warsaw
3. NATO PA and the Lithuanian Seimas held a seminar on Belarus
4. European Voice put forward Mikhail Marinich as a candidate for non-EU citizen of the year
1. On September 20, the European Union added another year to the EU entry ban for a group of high-ranking Belarusian officials, including Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
http://www.charter97.org/rus/news/2005/09/21/eu
2. The situation in Belarus was discussed by the OSCE member states at a traditional annual OSCE human dimension meeting in Warsaw, from September 19-30. The participants noted deterioration in the Belarus situation, which was mentioned along with the most authoritarian regimes of the former Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
http://www.spring96.org/viewn.php?id=2893&pagelang=by
3. On September 23-24, Vilnius, Lithuania, hosted a seminar on democracy and its prospects in Belarus, organized by the Seimas and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
http://www.svaboda.org/articlesfeatures/politics/2005/9/2DCD09E9-BC00-4621-812F-28B020400FCF.html
4. The “European Voice,” an influential weekly newspaper in Brussels, included the Belarusian political prisoner, former Minister and Ambassador Mikhail Marynich (Marinich) on a list of people who exerted a great influence on European politics in 2005.
http://www.ev50.com/poll/default.asp?id=16
Olga Stuzhinskaya
Research Assistant
NATO Parliamentary Assembly
Place du Petit Sablon 3
1000 - Brussels
Belgium
Tel.: +32 (0)2 504 81 49
Mobile: +32 (0)4 7935 7677
Fax: +32 (0)2 514 18 47
E-mail: stage3@nato-pa.int