Prof. Mikhail Pastukhov and Vera Stremkovskaya

On The Rule of Law In Belarus

8:30am -- 10am Wednesday, September 23, 1998

At Patterson, Belknap, Webb, and Tyler
1133 Avenue of the Americas
24th floor, Room 24B
Please RSVP
by phone: 212-684-1221
or by fax: 212-684-1696

Belarusian Lawyers Visit, September 20 to September 29, 1998.

The International League for Human Rights, in continuation of its Belarus Human Rights Defenders Project, has invited two prominent Belarusian lawyers, Prof. Mikhail Pastukhov and Vera Stremkovskaya, to visit the United States from September 20 through September 29, 1998. Prof. Pastukhov and Ms. Stremkovskaya are prominent civil rights attorneys who played an active role in legislative reform in their country before President Lukashenko made the turn back toward Soviet-style government. The main purpose of their visit is to meet with judges, lawyers and human rights groups, their colleagues and peers in the U.S., and to discuss the problems of the rule of law in their country. They will also make their appeal against human rights abuses perpetrated by the government of Belarus to the U.S. government and public, human rights NGOs. Prof. Pastukhov will also attend and speak at a conference on the Rule of Law at American University on September 28. Both Ms. Stremkovskaya and Prof. Pastukhov will be available for meetings in New York Monday, September 21 through Wednesday, September 23, and in Washington D.C., Thursday, September 24, Friday, September 25, and part of Monday, September 28. Meetings can also be scheduled for the afternoon of Tuesday, September 29, before their final departure for Minsk.

The Newseum of Rosslyn, Virginia have invited Prof. Mikhail Pastukhov to their on-site broadcast studio on Friday, September 25 at 2:30pm for their "Inside Media" program. The program will take place before an audience in the Newseum studios. It will also be available live via internet. For more information on this event please visit the Newseum Website

Please visit the following sites for more information on human rights in Belarus:

Vitali Silitsky's Free Belarus Now!

Civic Forum

Vera Stremkovskaya

Vera Stremkovskaya is a prominent civil rights attorney from Belarus. In 1998, Ms. Stremkovskaya became the president of the Human Rights Center in Minsk after having worked as an attorney of the Minsk Bar Association, where she defended members of the Belarusian opposition in criminal and civil cases. Before that she had worked as the head lawyer for the Belarusian Helsinki Committee. In 1996, Ms. Stremkovskaya served as Legal Counsel at the Belarusian Presidential Affairs office, where she drafted legislative acts and regulations for President Lukashenko and the Presidential Affairs Department, represented the Department in court and in government organizations, and provided legal counsel on constitutional and economic issues to organizations within the Department's jurisdiction. She resigned in protest against the President's policies.

Vera Stremkovskaya has had eighteen years of experience in Belarus as a private law practitioner, a legal counsel and an attorney in court. She has published over 40 articles on legal issues as well as a book of poetry. As a member of Amnesty International, she has spoken out against capital punishment. In 1996, Ms. Stremkovskaya earned a degree certificate in Legislation Drafting from the American Bar Association, through the Central and East European Law Initiative. She is also a member of the Criminal and Justice Committees of the International Bar Association.

Mikhail Pastukhov

Mikhail Pastukhov is a Professor of Law at an independent university in Belarus. He is also the director of the Media Protection Center at the Belarusian Association of Journalists. From 1992 to 1994, Prof. Pastukhov participated in a working group on the creation of the 1994 Belarus Constitution, the concept of court reform in Belarus, and the bill on the Constitutional Court. The working group drafted the Penal Code of Belarus and other legal documents. For his work he was awarded the title «Honored Lawyer of Belarus» in 1994. In December of 1996, after serving for two years as a parliament-elected Justice in the Constitutional Court of Belarus, Prof. Pastukhov submitted his resignation to the speaker of the 13th Supreme Soviet (the parliament) in protest against the introduction of the illegitimate new Constitution following the 1996 November referendum. Prof. Pastukhov was dismissed from his position by presidential decree after the elected parliament was disbanded and a new presidentially-appointed legislature was established.

In 1998, Prof. Pastukhov was awarded the joint U.S. Government and European Union's Democracy and Civil Society Award in recognition of his achievements in promoting democratic values and a civic society. Prof. Pastukhov has published five monographs and numerous scientific articles and brochures on the court system, Constitutional law and the protection of media freedoms in Belarus. In 1997, he compiled and wrote a substantial report on the human rights situation in Belarus, published by the International League for Human Rights. Prof. Mikhail Pastukhov has participated in numerous international fora on the legal aspects of freedom of expression and journalists' rights. He also acted as a representative of the journalists and newspapers which were tried in Belarus for critical reporting about President Lukashenko's government, most notably in the case of ORT journalists, Pavel Sheremet and Dmitry Zavadsky.

For more information please contact Matvei Yankelevich, Belarus Project Manager
at (212) 684-1221, fax: (212) 684-1696