IN THIS ISSUE:

• HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS: Belarus Hits Top Ten Lists in HR Violations; Trade Union Marchers Detained; Five Detained In Charter 97's Anniversary Rally; Vitebsk BNF Leader Under Investigation; Death Penalty; 5,000 People Celebrate Bolshevik Revolution; Lukashenko Applauds 1917 Revolution; Lenin Statue Blasted; Lukashenko Calls Belarus A Democracy and Welcomes OSCE...
• THE BELARUSIAN ECONOMY: Soviet-Era Shortages; Lukashenko Criticizes Government for Market Troubles; KGB Fights Black Market...
• BROTHER SLAVS: RUSSIA, YUGOSLAVIA, BELARUS: Lukashenko Protests Against Russian Left-Wing's Anti-Union Criticism; Yugoslavian Foreign Minister Seeks Triple Alliance; Law Enforcement Across the Border; Natural strategic Partners.
• INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:Lithuania and Ukraine Seek Cooperation with Belarus; Turkey Seeks To Better Ties; US and CIS States Update Missile-Curb Accords.

FIVE PEOPLE DETAINED DURING CHARTER 97 PICKET
On November 10, Charter 97 held an authorized picket at Jakub Kolas square in Minsk to commemorate Charter's first anniversary. Journalists of the independent press, representatives of leading political parties, mothers and wives of the political prisoners as well as rock musicians came to support Charter 97 activists. Along with a popular slogan "Lukashenko Resign!", picketers held other signs, including one proclaiming "Dictatorship is Shit!" Police demanded protesters to roll up the offensive banner, and when they refused, Charter 97 activists Nikolai Khalezin and Oleg Bebenin, rock-singers Lyavon Volsky, Vyacheslav Koren, and Yury Levkov were taken to the Sovetsky district police station, but released soon after. (Charter 97 Press Center, November 10)

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS PICKET BELARUSIAN EMBASSIES
On November 10, protesters picked the Belarusian Embassy in Kiev. The action was organized by the Kiev-based Narodny Rukh as a sign of solidarity with Charter 97. Picketers demanded the release of Andrei Klimov, Vladimir Koudinov, Alexei Shydlouski and other Belarusian political prisoners.

Another picket was staged in Brussels in front of Belarusian diplomatic mission, organized by the Brussels office of Charter 97, deputies of European parliament led by MEP Elisabeth Schrodter, chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. The participants expressed protest against human rights violations in Belarus and demanded the Belarusian government to free political prisoners. They also expressed indignation over the arrest of members of the independent trade unions during a rally on November 5. The picketing took place under the slogan "Freedom and Democracy for Belarus!"

In Moscow, a picket was held in front of the Belarusian Embassy on November 12. The protest was organized by the Anti-Fascist Youth Action. Some AFYA members had experienced Belarusian-style human rights abuse, when more than ten young Russians were detained in Minsk after taking part in the Charnobylsky Shlyakh-98 [Chernobyl Procession] on April 25, 1998. (Charter 97 Press Center, November 10)

MORE PICKETS IN SUPPORT OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
On November 12, Spring 96 Human Rights Center, organized a picket at Svaboda square in Minsk. According to Ales Belyatski of Spring 96, the picket aimed to attract public attention to notorious facts of human rights violations, in particular, to the imprisonment of Vladimir Koudinov, Andrei Klimov, Vladimir Pleshschenko and Alyaksey Shydlouski (Radio 101.2, November 12)

VITEBSK FRONT LEADER STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION
The Prosecutor's Office of Oktaybrsky District in Vitebsk extended the detention of Vladimir Pleshschenko, the chairman of the local branch of the Belarusian Popular Front. He was arrested on September 2 for allegedly knocking down the bust of Alexander Suvorov, the Russian military commander. The criminal charges against Vladimir Pleshschenko were filed under Article 201, ß 2 (malicious hooliganism) and Article 225, ß 2 (damage to historic and cultural monuments). Pleshschenko pleaded not guilty. (Radio 101.2, November 9)

EXPECT NO MERCY!
Belarus remains one of the very few European countries which has retained the death penalty. For the last two years, approximately 70 persons have been executed. Belarusian President Lukashenko has not pardoned anyone. According to the Spring 96's recent review, "in the course of investigation of the death penalty cases, numerous abuses took place, in particular, suspects were tortured." Spring 96 is also aware of "inhumane conditions" under which the condemned are kept in Minsk prisons. "Guards hit the death sentenced for any pretext: a request for medical aid, a desire to invite a priest for confession. They beat prisoners with a special wooden hammer for tapping grilles and walls. There were some cases when prisoner's hands and ribs were broken with these hammers, causing serious harm to their lungs. "The Minsk prisons administration strictly forbids those on death row to speak about the conditions of their incarceration in prison with relatives and lawyers," the review says. (Belaruskaya gazeta, November 10)

5,000 CELEBRATE 1917 BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION IN MINSK
The 81st anniversary of the 1917 Revolution was officially celebrated in Belarus as a national holiday. Despite the bad weather, about 5,000 people, mainly representatives of the capital' s industrial enterprises, gathered at Independence Square in Minsk. After a ceremony of laying flowers at Lenin's monument, a meeting was held in the square. Victor Chikin, the deputy chairman of the Minsk City Council and first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, told the crowd that Belarus had maintained "the achievements of the Great October Socialist Revolution" to a greater degree than any other former Soviet republic. According to Chikin, this explains why Belarusian Communists so actively support Lukashenko's policies. Anatoly Malofeyev, speaker of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, took part in the meeting. After the rally, the demonstrators walked from Independence Square to Victory Square. (Belapan, November 7)

"THIS IS MY PAST WHICH I SHALL NOT DISCARD"
President Alexander Lukashenko congratulated his countrymen on the occasion, stressing that "October 1917 marked a turning point in the development of humankind." The president pointed out that there were no intentions "to revise history." "We take history as it was, and draw necessary lessons from it," he said. (ITAR-TASS, November 7)

BLAST DAMAGES LENIN STATUE IN BELARUS TOWN
A statue of Vladimir Lenin was damaged by a homemade bomb in Zhodino, a small town located 25 miles from Minsk, on November 6, on the eve of the 81st anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. "Unknown people damaged the statue of Lenin with an explosive device," Valery Kashevsky, mayor of Zhodino, told Reuters. Kashevsky said the explosion tore away the top part of the statue and destroyed part of Lenin's head, although the statue was still standing on its pedestal. A second statue of Lenin was splashed with paint. "The police are investigating, but only someone with a mental disorder could do it," Kashevsky said. "I do not see any other reason for this act....If the criminal wanted to thwart our celebrations tomorrow, he failed." Hundreds of Lenin monuments have been removed from the streets of cities in Russia and other former Soviet republics, but Belarus has kept them all. They are protected under law as "historic and cultural monuments," with vandalism punishable by up to five years in prison. (Reuters, November 9)

...POLICE INTERROGATE OPPOSITION LEADERS
Witnesses in the case of the damaged Lenin monument were interrogated in Zhodino. Police officers arrived in the apartment of Ales Koroliov, the leader of the local branch of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada). His son, Anatoly, 24, a teacher at a local high school, was forcibly taken without a warrant to a police station in order to testify as a witness. According to Ales Koroliov, on November 6 his son took photographs of the damaged monuments. Local police officers also questioned Iraid Misko, the chairman of the local chapter of the Belarusian Popular Front. (Radio 101.2, November 9)

"BELARUS IS AS DEMOCRATIC AS ANY EUROPEAN NATION"
"The West should abandon its policy of double standards toward Belarus," Alexander Lukashenko said during a November 6 meeting with Robert Antreter, vice-president of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. "The level of democracy in Belarus is as high as in any Parliamentary Assembly member nation", Lukashenko said. "Your conscience and professionalism should tell you that Belarus must be reinstated as a Parliamentary Assembly special invitee, although it did make numerous mistakes because it is a young country. Influential organizations such as the Council of Europe exist for assisting young, inexperienced countries," he stressed. (Interfax, November 6)

LUKASHENKO MEETS WITH HEAD OF OSCE MISSION
On November 10, Alexander Lukashenko met Hans-George Wieck, head of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus. The negotiations were held behind closed doors. According to official sources, the sides discussed issues concerning the operation of the OSCE mission in Belarus as well as problems delaying the normalization of Belarus-Europe relations. Lukashenko and Wiek also exchanged opinions on the social and political situation in Belarus. The Belarusian President gladly welcomed the group's activity and reconfirmed Belarus' adherence to democratic principles, the rule of law and human rights in accordance with OSCE standards. Amb. Wieck stressed the necessity of having a dialogue as "the most important instrument for the peaceful settlement of conflicts." He characterized the work of the OSCE AMG in Belarus as "a catalyst for the dialogue of government and opposition." (Radio 101.2, November 11)

-- The Belarusian Economy --
BELARUS DRIVES ECONOMY ITS OWN WAY
Russia's tattered economy casts an ominous shadow over Belarus, but the country has so far escaped being dragged down by its neighbor's troubles. Alexander Lukashenko says it's all because Belarus is going its own way and ignoring the West's model. While Russia and other former Soviet republics have struggled, and often failed, to build market economies, Belarus has stuck to a formula that relies on large government subsidies to state-controlled farms and industries. Such economic thinking may be out of fashion, but Lukashenko says Belarus's stability beats Russia's chaos any day. Liberals like Alexander Potupa, vice president of the Belarusian Union of Entrepreneurs, says the government has built a house of cards by printing money to patch budget holes and pay wages. They also complain that it stifles businesses and privatization efforts. The government aims only to maintain living standards at roughly the level they were during Soviet times, Potupa said. Still, he said, Belarusian "market socialism" might survive for years as a closed economy and it might yet prove attractive to the fellow Slav nations of Russia and Ukraine. (Associated Press, November 9)

...TO "SOVIET ERA" SHORTAGES
Long lines and shortages reminiscent of the darkest days of the Soviet era, are back in Belarus, two months after the financial collapse in neighboring Russia. Shops are empty and the black market is flourishing. Locally-produced goods and basic essentials, whose prices are controlled by the government and cannot legally be increased by more than 2.0 percent a month, were first to vanish from the shop shelves. The huge signs on billboards all over the city, urging people to "Buy Belarusian" seem all the more preposterous. As for imported goods, they are now way beyond the reach of ordinary people whose income though stable in Belarusian rubles, is worth only one third of its previous value in dollars. The last product still available at shops in unlimited quantities and at affordable prices is vodka. (Agence France-Presse, November 9)

LUKASHENKO CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT
President Lukashenko sharply criticized the government and law-enforcement agencies for their failure to fill the domestic market with food and commodities, Mikhail Myasnikovich, head of the presidential administration told Interfax. The president is displeased, he said, that the flaws of which he spoke earlier are being removed slowly and in an unsatisfactory way, and that in certain areas "the situation has even deteriorated." Lukashenko demanded that urgent additional measures be taken to improve the situation, Myasnikovich said. (Interfax, November 10)

KGB FIGHTS BLACK MARKET
On November 6, Alexander Lukashenko ordered the head of the State Security Committee to step in the fight against the black currency market. "The president demanded immediate measures in cooperation with other law-enforcement agencies to uncover and eliminate illegal currency exchange operations on the country's black market," the country's press service said. Lukashenko also ordered the KGB to "take the offensive" in defending the economic security of the country. The black market is growing ever more entrenched and the disparity between the official and unofficial exchange rates ever more marked as Belarus steps up currency controls in an effort to defend its sliding ruble. "It will be difficult even for the KGB to fight against the black currency market since there is practically no legal market in the country," a financial analyst told Reuters. "A normal person cannot follow abnormal logic when the cost of everything, including rubles, is set by the authorities." (Reuters, November 9)

--Brother Slavs: Russia, Yugoslavia, Belarus --
LUKASHENKO BLAMES RUSSIAN LEFT WING
The delegation from the Vologda Region of Russia led by governor Vyacheslav Pozgoliov visited Minsk at the invitation of President Lukashenko. At a November 5 meeting with the governor, Alexander Lukashenko made a statement to journalists that could represent a turning point in assessments of his political position. It seems that he is very unhappy with the activities of the Russian Communists and their allies. "However much I support our Russian-Belarusian unity, even going as far as a union, I will not allow anyone else to play the Belarusian card for political ends. It is quite clear that no political leader actually wants any kind of union or unity. We will never allow there to be idle chatter about a union without anything actually being done about it. Let no more people use this to inflate their own authority! " Lukashenko stressed that the left-wing opposition can no longer count on his support. He will not provide a foundation for people who are already getting their presidential campaigns under way in Moscow. (NTV, November 5)

YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER WANTS "TRIPLE ALLIANCE"
Zivadin Jovanovic, the foreign minister of Yugoslavia, called the idea of a rapprochement between Yugoslavia and the Union of Russia and Belarus "fruitful and constructive". In a conversation with ITAR-TASS correspondents, he said that many people currently underestimate this idea. "There is no need to push it; it needs to be given specific content in the most varied areas of cooperation because strengthening ties between Russia, Yugoslavia and Belarus corresponds to the interests of our peoples," Jovanovic commented. He said that at his first meeting with his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, they would analyze together a proposal to create a "triple alliance" in the future. (ITAR-TASS, November 5)

RUSSIA, BELARUS SIGN LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGREEMENT
On November 9, Sergey Stepashin, Russian Minister of Interior and Valentin Agolets, his Belarusian counterpart, signed a protocol of cooperation between the law-enforcement agencies of the two countries for 1999-2000. Speaking at a news conference after the signing ceremony in Moscow, Stepashin said that the two countries will cooperate in fighting crime, exchanging experts and creating a joint criminal databank. During the talks, Stepashin and Agolets discussed cooperation "in concrete practical areas," including the unification of Russian and Belarusian laws, primarily their criminal and criminal-procedural codes. (ITAR-TASS, November 9)

BELARUS IS RUSSIA'S NATURAL STRATEGIC PARTNER
Nikolai Bordyuzha, Secretary of the Russian Federation's Security Council, on the eve of his November 11's one-day visit to Minsk, told ITAR-TASS that Belarus is Russia's natural strategic partner. Bordyuzha expressed confidence that "Russia-Belarus cooperation in the security sphere will serve to promote the common cause of the development and strengthening of bilateral allied relations between states." Bordyuzha pointed out the "exceptionally important role," which is played by the two countries' cooperation in their efforts to prevent proliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons, as well as in export control over military and dual-use technology. In Minsk, the Secretary of Russia's Security Council met with President Alexander Lukashenko and his Belarusian counterpart Victor Sheiman. (ITAR-TASS, November 11)

-- International Affairs --
PRESIDENTS OF LITHUANIA AND BELARUS MEET ON BORDER
President Alexander Lukashenko and Valdis Adamkus, President of Lithuania, met at the border checkpoint Kameny Log-Medeninkai on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border on November 12. The press service of the Belarusian president reported that during the talks the two presidents discussed issues pertaining to the development of cooperation in different fields. (ITAR-TASS, November 12)

KUCHMA AND ADAMKUS CALL FOR COOPERATION WITH BELARUS
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Valdas Adamkus, his Lithuanian counterpart, believe that it is necessary to continue cooperation with Belarus and its president. Both leaders spoke at a joint news conference on November 6 against the isolation of Belarus by the international community. Commenting on a recent statement by Alexander Lukashenko that "Ukrainian people will force their politicians to come to the Union of Belarus and Russia," Leonid Kuchma said that "we are not going anywhere." (UNIAN, November 6)

TURKEY WANTS TO STIMULATE RELATIONS WITH BELARUS
On November 10, Alexander Lukashenko held meeting with Ismet Sezgin, Turkey Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defense. Addressing the meeting, Lukashenko said: "We are open to dialogue not only in the military field but also in the fields of economy and politics. I will contribute to the solution by making the necessary intervention at the right time if problems occur in our relations." Sezgin stressed that Turkey wants to stimulate relations with Belarus in every field. Ismet Sezgin had presented to his counterpart Chumakov a draft agreement which will constitute the basis for the relations between the two countries in the field of defense industry. (BBC, November 12)

U.S. AND EX-SOVIET STATES SIGN UPDATED MISSILE-CURB ACCORD
Negotiators from the U.S. and the former Soviet Union signed a package of new accords on November 9 to ensure that medium-range nuclear weapons stay out of their arsenals. The seven agreements bring up-to-date the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty that Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed in 1987. Since then the 2,700 medium- and shorter-range missiles covered by the INF accord have been destroyed. Joining in the signing were representatives of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russian and Ukraine. (Dow Jones International News, November 9)

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Belarus Update is a regular news bulletin of the Belarus Human Rights Support Project of the International League for Human Rights. The League, now in its 57th year, is a New York-based human rights NGO in consultative status with the United Nations and ILO.

The Belarus project is a part of Human Rights Defenders' Project, originally launched in 1982 to defend individuals and groups who suffer reprisals for promoting human rights in their societies. Among those the League defended were Andrei Sakharov, Kim Dae Jung and Jaime Castillo Velasco.

The Belarus project was established to support Belarusian citizens in making their cases before the U.S. government and public and international fora and intergovernmental organizations regarding President Alexander Lukashenko's wholesale assault on human rights and the rule of law in Belarus.

For more information e-mail belarus@ilhr.org or call (212) 684-1221 or fax (212) 684-1696