ILHR - International League for Human Rights

Belarus Update Vol.1, No. 21 September, 1998
	Vol. 1; No. 21 September 1998 IN THIS ISSUE: -- Media News: Voice Of Belarus Soothes Disaffected Russians Human Rights Report: Koudinov; Nasha Niva; Parliament Resolution Belarus and Russia: Primakov's Visit; Economic Crisis; Union's Court Belarusian Economy: World Bank Mission; IMF; Ford Factory Stalls KGB: Internet; Kennedy Files Drozdy Developments Church and State Health: Tuberculosis Threat in Prisons Media News RUSSIANS TUNE IN TO THE VOICE OF BELARUS From the WSJ: During the Cold War, fed-up Russians turned for solace to the BBC, Radio Liberty and the Voice of America. Today they are tuning in on the voice of Alexander Lukashenko, political pin-up for Russia’s disaffected. Courtesy of the Belarusian Ministry of Communications, Russians can now hear six hours of daily news and views from Belarus. Penetrating deep into western Russia, Belarus Radio offers a daily trip down memory lane into a cozy world free of chaotic debate, ear-shattering pop music and grim bulletins on the collapse of the ruble. The Belarus currency is even more sickly, but listeners are spared the bad news. Instead, they get wholesome, uplifting fare -- how Belarus keeps streets clean and prices low, how it pays salaries on time and makes the enemies of the people do time, and how it dreams of one day putting the fragments of the Soviet Union back together again. As the roof fell in this past summer on Moscow’s financial markets, Lukashenko’s soothing voice entered a cacophonous debate over what to do. Beneath the shortwave static lies a message of compelling clarity for a swelling army of antimarket malcontents and pro-Soviet dreamers. "When you hear him, you know you can believe him. He does not cheat people’s hopes like our politicians," says Tomas Korganov, a Moscow musician. For many Russians, Lukashenko is a Slavic Robin Hood. (The Wall Street Journal, October 1) Top WHILE BELARUSIANS PREFER RUSSIAN TV Only 10.5 % of the Belarusian city residents questioned by the NOVAK sociological agency named Belarusian state television among their favorite television channels, said Andrei Vardomatsky, NOVAK director, at an international media seminar in Minsk on September 23. According to Vardomatsky, most of the respondents said they preferred to watch Russian channels. (Minsk News, September 29 - October 5) *Top* -- Human Rights Report KOUDINOV NOT ALLOWED TO SEE HIS WIFE Zoya Koudinova, the wife of Vladimir Koudinov, a businessman and a deputy of the13^th Supreme Soviet, was not permitted to visit her husband in prison where he is serving his term. Koudinov was one of the parliamentarians who signed a motion for Alexander Lukashenko’s impeachment in 1996. He was arrested in February 1997 and accused of offering a $500 bribe to a highway police officer. On August 4, 1997, a district court sentenced him to seven years and confiscation of his property. According to Zoya Koudinova, she was last allowed to visit her husband on May 3. On September 20, she arrived in Minsk, hoping to see her husband. Despite her claims that existing regulations allow her to have a long-term meeting with her husband once every six months, only Koudinov’s two daughters were permitted to see him. According to Mrs. Koudinov, the prison chief told her that she would never again be granted permission to see her husband because of her participation in the campaign for his release. (Minsk News, September 29 - October 5) Top ANATOLY MALOFEEV: "HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IS BEARABLE" From September 6 to 12, a delegation of the Belarusian parliament, headed by Anatoly Malofeyev, Chairman of the House of Representatives, took part in the 100^th conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Moscow. Upon their return to Belarus, delegates said that the conference did not raise the issue of human rights violations in Belarus. According to Malofeyev, the human rights situation in the country evokes less criticism than that of other countries "where it even comes down to the mass shooting of deputies..." Charter 97 issued a statement countering Malofeyev’s claims: in fact the human rights record in Belarus was discussed within the framework of the conference, by the Parliamentarians’ Committee for Human Rights. The Committee raised this issue after considering some documents presented by the International Affairs Commission of the (disbanded) 13^th Supreme Soviet in cooperation with Charter 97. The Committee adopted a special resolution expressing concern over violations of the rights of deputies of the 13^th Supreme Soviet. The decision mentioned the lawsuits against Andrei Klimov, Vladimir Koudinov, Vasily Shchukin, and Stanislav Bogdankevich. After hearing the explanations of the official Belarusian delegation, which deliberately distorted material facts, the Committee emphasized the need to respect the freedom of speech and assembly. The Committee's resolution criticized arrests and fines for participation in street marches. The Committee decided in favor of resuming consideration of this issue at their next session. Mr. Glukhovsky, Chairman of the Commission for Legislation of the Belarusian National Assembly, commented that Europeans are already used to the "epistolary escapades" of the Belarusian opposition and pay no attention to them. (Belaruskaya gazeta, September 29) Top NASHA NIVA CASE DETAILS REVEALED A special commission set up to decide whether the Nasha Niva newspaper distorted "generally accepted language standards" has issued a ruling. Belarusian authorities had accused the newspaper of using a version of the Belarusian language practiced before a forcible 1933 reform in the Stalin era. The special commission came to the conclusion that such a concept as "generally accepted language standards" does not exist in the academic field of philology. Valentina Rusak, member of the commission, said that the commission’s conclusions will soon be submitted to the Supreme Court, which is examining an appeal lodged by Nasha Niva against a warning issued by the State Committee for the Press for alleged distortion of the Belarusian language. (Minsk News, September 29 - October 5) Top HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP PROTESTS DESTRUCTION OF AGRICULTURE The Belarusian Helsinki Committee disseminated a statement protesting the "ruin of Belarusian agricultural producers," Belapan reported on September 29. The Committee says both private and state-owned farms are on the verge of collapse because the government maintains low purchase prices for agricultural products while the prices of food, agricultural equipment, and industrial goods are very high. Farmers are forced to repay state loans by selling their products at 30-40 percent below their market value. The statement adds that farmers’ wages are far below the subsistence minimum and are constantly paid late. The Committee believes that the government's agricultural policy is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. (RFE/RL, September 30) Top LEFTIST PARTIES PICKET EMBASSY Belarusian leftist parties and movements picketed the Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk on October 2 to demand that the Lithuanian government free Mykolas Burokevicius and Juozas Jermalavicius, the former leaders of the Lithuanian Communist Party, who were accused of high treason following the January 1991 events in Vilnius and deported from Belarus to Lithuania on January 15, 1994. (Minsk News, September 29 - October 5) Top SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SENDS OPEN PROTEST LETTER "The government fails to duly perform its functions. Moreover, it shifts much of its duties on parents and teachers’ shoulders," reads an open letter addressed by Ivan Drigailovsky, principal of a Brest secondary schools, to President Alexander Lukashenko and Prime Minister Sergei Ling on the occasion of Teacher’s Day. According to Drigailovsky, he wanted the letter to draw public attention to the worsening working and living conditions of Belarusian teachers. He called on the government to draw up a presidential program aimed at developing education, saving the national education system from collapse, and enhancing teachers’ prestige. He says that if no urgent measures are taken, the crisis may lead to social unrest. (Minsk News, September 29 - October 5) Top -- Belarus and Russia RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER VISITS BELARUS Yevgeny Primakov, Russian Prime Minister, paid a working visit to Minsk on September 30 upon Lukashenko’s invitation. This was Primakov’s first trip abroad after his appointment to the post of Prime Minister. During the visit he held two rounds of talks with Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, including a larger meeting, attended by members of the two delegations, as well as a private talk. "Russia attaches special importance to its relations with Belarus," Yevgeny Primakov said at the talks with Alexander Lukashenko on September 30. The president of Belarus renewed his call for a stronger union with Ukraine and Russia, despite continuing resistance from leaders in Ukraine. "To those who say there is no union and that the union won't be, don't foster those illusions," Lukashenko said. "The union exists and will be. And as for Ukraine and other governments being included or not included ... they’ll join!" Primakov agreed with Lukashenko: "The new Russian government will be doing its utmost to develop the Union of Belarus and Russia. Seeing that participation in the Union is advantageous for the two states, all other CIS states will become increasingly inclined to join the Union." The talks also touched on such problems as the synchronization of the two countries’ actions in stabilizing the financial-economic situation. Officials said Primakov and Lukashenko did not come to grips with thorny issues between them, including Belarusian debts for Russian gas supplies. The Belarusians showed its interest in the development of military cooperation between the two countries. Primakov was also scheduled to meet Belarusian Prime Minister Sergey Ling, before leaving Minsk on the same day. No official documents were signed during the visit. Lukashenko and Primakov agreed to hold the next meeting of the Executive Committee of the Russia-Belarus Union on October 16. Under a document signed during his meeting with Lukashenko, Primakov was appointed chairman of the Executive Committee. According to Primakov, the meeting would solve some "real problems" in order to strengthen the political union of the two former Soviet republics set up in 1996. (ITAR/TASS News Agency, September 30) Top DUMA RATIFIES MILITARY AGREEMENTS WITH BELARUS The Russian State Duma unanimously ratified on October 2 the agreement between Russia and Belarus on military cooperation and the agreement between the two countries on jointly guaranteeing the regional security in the military sphere. The lower house also unanimously ratified the agreement between Russia and Belarus on social rights and guarantees for officials of the bodies of the Russia-Belarus Union. (ITAR/TASS News Agency, October 2) Top RUSSIA AND BELARUS FORM UNION COURT In a meeting in Moscow on October 1, participants from Russia and Belarus continued their work to finalize the concept of the Court of the Russia-Belarus Union. They discussed remarks and suggestions of the Russian and Belarusian ministries and departments received by the Union’s Executive Committee. The concept defines the main principles, aims and tasks, as well as the jurisdiction of the Court, its composition and a mechanism for executing its decisions. The eleven-member court will have its seat in Moscow. (ITAR/TASS News Agency, October 1) Top LOWER HOUSE COMMITTEE PREPARES LOCAL ELECTION LAW At its September 24 meeting, the Committee on State System, Local Self Government and Regulations of the House of Representatives discussed a draft law on local elections. If adopted, the law would allow Russian citizens who permanently live in Belarus to participate in local elections. The measure will also allow candidates to accept donations from enterprises, associations, establishments, organizations and private individuals, which is banned by legislation currently in force. The committee’s meeting was attended by Lydia Yermoshina, chairwoman of the Central Election Commission, officials of the Presidential Administration and representatives of some political parties. (Minsk News, September 29 - October 5) Top BELARUS BANKS LOST $200M IN RUSSIAN CRISIS Commercial banks in Belarus lost $200 million because of the financial crisis in neighboring Russia, Alexander Lukashenko said October 1. "What were you thinking about?" Lukashenko asked business leaders. "For what purpose did you buy those papers?’ he said, referring to Russian government treasury bonds [GKOs] that have become virtually worthless as a result of the crisis. ‘The best bank is a stocking in your own country," he said. (Dow Jones News, October 1) Top RUSSIA FOLLOWING BELARUSIAN EXPERIENCE? Alexander Lukashenko told journalists on October 1 that he had an impression that the new Russian government is borrowing much of the economic experience accumulated by Belarus over the past four years, Interfax reported. Commenting on his meeting earlier this week with Yevgeny Primakov, Lukashenko said that Primakov "spoke about state regulation and a socially-oriented market economy." And he added that Primakov is tackling his new duties with "youth-like enthusiasm." (RFE/RL, October 2) Top The Belarusian Economy BUSINESS CONFERENCE IN MINSK By early next winter Belarusians will be spending most of their income on food and will be unable to buy any other goods, Yuri Shimanenko, director of the Belarusian Scientific and Industrial Association for Economic Issues, said at a conference on the impact of the crisis in Russia and other CIS countries on the development of enterprise in Belarus. The conference, organized by the Belarusian Association of Entrepreneurs, was held in Minsk on September 25. The participants concluded that the causes of the crisis in Belarus are to be found inside the country, and that external developments such as the current turmoil in Russia have only aggravated it. (Minsk News, September 29 - October 5) Top WORLD BANK MISSION VISITS BELARUS A World Bank mission completed its postponed visit to Belarus on September 25. The mission discussed the strategy of reforming the country's banking system. At a press conference, Paul Siegelbaum, director of the World Bank Ukraine-Belarus department, and Lily Chu, the senior economist with the same department, presented their views on the problems of the economic situation in Belarus and stated that the World Bank will not approve new loans unless the Belarusian government meets it halfway by liberalizing the exchange rate. Despite overall pessimism, the World Bank is not going to abandon Belarus. Its representative office in Belarus still operates, though mainly focused on educational programs and previously-begun projects. (Minsk News, September 29 - October 5) Top BELARUS ATTACKS IMF "TEXT-BOOK" METHODS Sergei Martynov, First Deputy Foreign Minister, said on October 1 that Belarus could not work with the International Monetary Fund solely on the terms laid down by this institution. "The IMF and the World Bank must stop their current practice of imposing on governments -- and not only in Belarus-- methods taken directly from the text books," he said. Martynov added that Belarus properly takes up the issue because "by working according to its own methods, the government of Belarus and its economy achieved some successes," even though "for the last three years, the IMF and the World Bank have systematically predicted the collapse of the Belarusian economy." Martynov also said that in dealing with countries like Belarus, which did not fully support its methods, the IMF should adopt a more flexible attitude. (Agence France Presse, October 2) Top TRADE UNION EXPRESSES PROTEST AGAINST ECONOMIC POLICY The Labor Union of Electronic Industry Workers, one of the largest industrial unions in Belarus, has issued a statement to express its protest against the government's economic policy. According to the union, unwelcome trends in the economy have led to a more than 30% reduction in the number of skilled personnel in the industry over the last 2.5 years. The unions warns that it will be ready to stage protests if the situation does not improve. (Minsk News, September 29 - October 5) Top COCA-COLA BEVERAGES CATCHES COLD IN BELARUS AND UKRAINE The economic difficulties in Russia have affected Coca-Cola’s business in Belarus and Ukraine. Coca-Cola Beverages derives 8% of its sales from Ukraine and Belarus. Coca- Cola Beverages is 50.1%-owned by Coca-Cola Co., which also warned of trading difficulties. Neville Isdell, CCB's Chairman and CEO, said reduced purchasing power among local consumers in these markets will have an adverse impact on turnover, unit case volume and cash operating profit in the full year. (AFX News, September 29) Top FORD FACTORY IN BELARUS HALTS PRODUCTION The Ford car factory outside the Belarusian capital Minsk, temporarily halted production because its sales outlets in Russia can no longer convert the proceeds of sales made in rubles, the firm told AFP on September 29. The Ford Union plant in Minsk is a joint US-Belarusian venture producing some 6,000 Ford Escort and Ford Transit cars a year. Before the financial crisis in Russia, 80 percent of the production was sold on the Russian market. (Agence France Presse, September 30) Top LUKASHENKO CLAIMS BELARUS HAS ENOUGH FOOD Lukashenko said Belarus has food reserves larger than it had in the Soviet era. He announced that he will make trips to the regions next week to make sure that "the necessary measures have been taken to ensure the country’s self-sufficiency in food." But he admitted that the Russian crisis is continuing to hurt the Belarusian economy. (RFE/RL, October 2) Top UKRAINE AND BELARUS PLAN LONG-TERM ECONOMIC COOPERATION On September 28, Valery Pustovoitenko, Ukrainian Prime Minister, and his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Ling met in Kiev to reach an agreement on mutual settlements. The two ministers discussed ways to fend off the negative impact of the Russian financial crisis and agreed to continue their mutual settlements on a barter basis. To promote bilateral economic cooperation, both sides have decided to work out a ten-year economic cooperation program. They plan to submit it to the presidents of the two countries for their endorsement by the end of this year. The two sides also reached a preliminary agreement on forming a banking consortium among Ukraine, Belarus and Russia for an early solution to their payment problems. (Xinhua News Agency, September 29) Top -- KGB: Keeping A Lid On It BELARUSIAN KGB BLAMES INTERNET On September 24, high-ranking officers of the Belarusian KGB held a news conference on information security. They stated that the protection of information and communication systems in state bodies had become a priority activity for their agency. Today, the level of information security in Belarus does not match the pace of the society’s growing computerization. The reasons are a lack of legislation, absence of any system for data protection and the lack of cooperation between governmental agencies. The major sources of information leakage are databases with a minimum set of protection schemes. Hackers breaking into computer systems through the Internet are another threat. For example, hackers recently cracked the server of the Presidential Administration and changed information there. "There is only one way to protect top-security information systems from hackers: that is the absence of any access to the Internet," KGB officer Viktor Kuzmin said. (Belaruskaya gazeta, September 29) Top INFORMATION ABOUT JFK'S ASSASSIN HIDDEN IN BELARUS Required by law to close its doors on September 30, the Assassination Records Review Board, created out of a broad public conviction that the government was hiding important information about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, said in a final 236-page report that its aggressive efforts frequently paid off, but that it is still worried that "critical records may have been withheld" from its scrutiny. The Belarusian KGB, for instance, has an extensive file on Lee Harvey Oswald, detailing more than two years of surveillance during the time he lived in Minsk. Board officials inspected the file in the fall of 1996, but were unable to obtain a copy, in part because of deteriorating relations between the United States and Belarus in 1997-1998. That aside, the board said it found the State Department "more of a hindrance than a help." Asked for comment, Pat Kennedy, Assistant Secretary of State for Administration, said "we have pushed [the Belarusians] and they have chosen not to respond. I do not know what more we could have done." (The Washington Post, September 29) Top -- Drozdy Developments BELARUS OFFERS COMPROMISES TO OFFENDED ENVOYS Belarus made compromise offers to Western envoys barred in June from their homes in Drozdy in an effort to mend fences with European neighbors and the United States, Sergei Martynov, Belarusian First Deputy Foreign Minister told a news briefing on October 1. "Continuation and development of political dialogue are impossible without a resolution of the situation surrounding the [Drozdy] complex. We have offered about 40 options of new residences for the ambassadors," he said, adding that special missions from Germany, France and Italy had already examined the proposed properties but made no decision on whether to accept them. He did not say what the position was of other countries, including the United States. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Minsk told Reuters on October 1 that the United States was not interested in Belarus’s proposals. "The U.S. mission will not come to look at these options," she said. "We view the eviction from Drozdy as a violation of the Vienna convention and we can agree only to the reinstatement of the previous status of the residence in Drozdy." (Reuters, October 2) Top -- Church and State LUKASHENKO PLEDGES TO RETURN CHURCH PROPERTY Alexander Lukashenko said on September 27 in Vitebsk that the state is ready to return any property that the Communists had confiscated from the Church in the1930s and 1940s. While attending religious events in Vitebsk to mark the visit of Aleksey II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the Belarusian president also pledged state assistance for the construction of Orthodox churches in Belarus. (RFE/RL, September 29) Top -- Health TUBERCULOSIS MUTATES IN JAILS International health authorities are concerned about a new and deadly strain of tuberculosis in overcrowded prisons in Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, fearing it may spread to epidemic levels in the outside general population. The danger comes from a mutant form of tuberculosis, which results when an ordinary TB sufferer receives sub-standard treatment. Alex Goldfarb, director of the Russian TB Project funded by George Soros, said that if the money is not spent soon, the cost of the epidemic to the world, as he put it: "will be counted in thousands of millions, and may become unmanageable." Prison reformers say that prisons in the former Soviet Union complicate the problem because they are chronically overcrowded and unsanitary, and are thus breeding grounds for the disease. The best way to tackle the problem is to reduce overcrowding in prisons, a priority in countries like Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus that have among the highest prison populations in the world relative to general population. (RFE/RL, October 2) Top
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