IN THIS ISSUE:

GONCHAR VOWS TO GO AHEAD WITH PRESIDENTIAL POLL

After serving the 10-day administrative detention, Victor Gonchar, chairman of the opposition Central Electoral Commission, is still recovering from his six-day hunger strike while in detention. Speaking to a Belapan correspondent about what he is going to do if confronted with reprisals in the future, Victor Gonchar stressed that in any event he would not give in to the authorities, not even on the smallest points. "If you show the slightest weakness you can be ruined both as a person and as a politician. I suppose it was this kind of attitude that helped me to survive the hunger strike. Our Commission continues to work, its chairman noted, and even more has been accomplished than planned. A tentative date for the next meeting is April 1, because March 27 is the deadline for signature sheets to be turned in. On that day, after randomly verifying the genuineness of the signature sheets, we are planing to register presidential candidates who have collected the required 100,000 signatures. To me, it is not a matter of struggle or of political ambition. It is a matter of fulfilling my civic duty. I will fulfil it in any situation, even in prison," Gonchar said. (Belapan, March 13)

…WHILE POLICE SEARCH HIS APPARTMENT

On March 16 Victor Gonchar’s apartment was searched. According to his wife, Zinaida, about 15 people in police uniforms and several plainclothes men stormed into, brusquely pushing her aside after she opened the door. The group was led by Igor Tumash, deputy head of the investigation group at the interior department of the Minsk City Council. Major Levkovitch, the chief investigator on the criminal case against Gonchar, also took part in the search. According to Zinaida Gonchar, the conduct of the people raiding the apartment was remarkably rude. Levkovitch snatched the telephone receiver from Victor Gonchar, who was talking on the phone at the time. Furious, Zinaida slapped the investigator, and in response several policemen pinioned her arms, injuring her. Some documents on the activities of the Electoral Commission, which had previously been made public, were seized. At Gonchar’s request, the confiscation was officially documented and the fact that the policemen had caused his wife bodily harm was included. (Belapan, March 16)

OSCE MISSION: EVERYBODY IS READY TO TALK

Referring to an unidentified source in the presidential administration, the Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta reported in its March 17 issue that Ambassador Hans-Georg Wieck, Head of the OSCE AMG in Minsk, had proposed a meeting between Lukashenko and four opposition figures to discuss a "new constitutional consensus" in Belarus. According to Wieck's plan, the opposition should be represented at the meeting by Semyon Sharetsky, speaker of the 13^th Supreme Soviet, Victor Gonchar, head of the opposition Central Electoral Commission, Zyanon Paznyak and Mikhail Chyhir, candidates in the presidential elections scheduled by the opposition for May 16. (Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, March 17)

…NOT BPF

Sergei Popkov, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front, told Interfax that the Front "does not intend to start any negotiations with the official authorities about the upcoming election and intends to do everything to make sure that a legitimate government is created in Belarus after May 16." (Interfax, March 15)

COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONCERNED OVER POLITICAL TENSIONS IN BELARUS

The Chairman of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly President, and the Council of Europe's Secretary-General expressed concern over the recent escalation of political tension in Belarus. The Council of Europe's statement stresses that "the main reason for concern is the physical safety of opposition members." The Council appeals to the Belarusian authorities to immediately initiate a dialogue with the opposition. The statement reiterates the importance of observing freedom of association, speech and information, as well as human rights norms. The Council of Europe is asking all Belarusian political forces to maintain a constructive approach in order to "reach an agreement on the problems vital for the European future of Belarus." (Interfax, March 15)

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON THE SITUATION IN BELARUS

On March 11, the European Parliament unanimously adopted the resolution on the situation in Belarus in which it called on President Lukashenko and his government to "re-establish democracy and to assure respect for human rights in Belarus, in particular the freedom of the press." The Parliament requested free and fair presidential elections to be held before the expiration of the Lukashenko's presidential term, urged Lukashenko to "stop harassing the opposition, whose preparation of the presidential election campaign is legal, and to guarantee all opposition politicians' immediate and unfettered access to the state print and broadcast media". The European Parliament has promised its full support to OSCE’s attempts to facilitate dialogue between the president and opposition. (Charter 97, March 17)

OPPOSITION MARKS CONSTITUTION ANNIVERSARY

About 3,000 anti-government protesters peacefully marched in Minsk on March 14, marking the fifth anniversary of the first post-Soviet Belarusian Constitution and urging Lukashenko not to exceed his initial term. "People have a right to elect a president every five years, but Lukashenko has neglected our democratic freedoms and rights," said Semyon Sharetsky, speaker of the 13^th Supreme Soviet, addressing the rally. (Reuters, March 15)

FREE TRADE UNION STAGES PICKET IN MINSK

On March 18 representatives of the Steelworkers’ Free Trade Union, which has three thousand members at the Minsk Tractor Plant, picketed the plant’s entrance. They protested against the pressure exerted by the board of the plant on the trade union members, against sharp impoverishment, and demanded the resignation of the Mr. Leonov, the director of the plant. The official trade union refuses to co-operate with the free trade union, whose members are not allowed to place their articles in the plant worker’s newspaper. (Charter 97, March 19)

OPPOSITION NGOS MAY NOT SURVIVE RE-REGISTRATION

The activities of political parties and organizations in Belarus are monitored by the Ministry of Justice. This year monitoring has already resulted in 16 written warnings for violations of legislation. 120 warnings were issued last year. In accordance with the re-registration decree an organization may be denied re-registration if it received a warning concerning violations of either its by-laws or the Belarusian legislation. On March 15, the Belarusian Ministry of Justice issued written warnings to the Belarusian Popular Front and the United Civic Party concerning their "anti-constitutional actions aimed at destabilizing the situation in Belarus". The Belarusian Helsinki Committee has also been warned against its involvement in the preparations for the presidential elections on May 16 and distribution of printed materials calling for the elections. (BBC, March 19)

KGB THREATENS ANOTHER MEMBER OF OPPOSITION ELECTORAL COMMISSION

Another member of the opposition Central Electoral Commission has been officially warned against taking part in "illegal activities". On March 12, Nikolai Pakhabov, resident of the city of Borysov, Minsk region, was taken to the Borysov District KGB and told that his activities may result in the criminal charges under Article 61 of the Belarusian Criminal Code (organization of a coup d'etat). Five members of the commission have already been warned: Iosif Naumchik (Vitsebsk), Sergey Abadovski (Mogilev), Liliya Sazanavets (Lida), Alexander Koktysh (Minsk) and the commission chairman Victor Gonchar. (Belapan, March 13)

REGIONAL AUTHORITIES DETAIN OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS

50,000 signatures, half of what is required for registration of a presidential candidate, have already been collected in support of Mikhail Chigir, ex-Prime Minister of Belarus and one of the opposition’s candidates for the Belarus presidency. According to his electoral headquarters, the number of signatures continues to grow every day. Chigir’s electoral headquarters and the Spring 96 Human Rights Center report that Belarusian regional authorities have ordered police to detain and beat activists who are collecting signatures in support of opposition presidential candidates and to confiscate their signature sheets. (Spring 96, March 18)

BELARUSIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE OFFICE IN GOMEL RAIDED BY POLICE

On March 13, policemen from the Gomel central police district searched the office of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee’s Gomel branch. They confiscated all documents pertaining to the presidential elections: copies of resolutions passed by the opposition Central Electoral Committee, the lists of members of district electoral commissions and the minutes of their sessions as well as signature sheets for BPF nominee Zyanon Paznyak. (Belapan, March 13)

TRIAL ON VLADIMIR PLESCHENKO

On March 16 the court resumed hearings of the Vladimir Pleschenko case. The head of the Vitebsk branch of the Belarusian Popular Front was indicted for allegedly desecrating the sculpture of Alexander Suvorov, a Russian military official. He remains in prison despite numerous petitions by the defense and even by the public prosecutor. At the trial, Vladimir Pleschenko said that he was passing out leaflets elsewhere in the city on the evening when Suvorov’s monument was stolen. Judge Shashkevich requested that Boris Gunter and Yury Karpov, who saw the accused on the night in question, testify. In the menatime, it was determined that the Suvorov bust weighs more than 600 pounds, a fact which makes it highly unlikely that Pleschenko, who has suffered a heart attack, moved it by himself. The trial will be resumed in 10 days. (Charter 97, March 17)

RUSSIAN ANTI-FASCISTS SUPPORT BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION

On March 15 activists of the Russian Anti-fascist Youth Movement together with the Youth Wing of Democratic Choice of Russia staged a picket near the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow in support of the democratic elections scheduled on May 16 in Belarus. The picketers, waving banners that read "‘Yes’ to Democratic Elections in Belarus!, ‘No’ to Union with Lukashenko’s dictatorship!", also urged the immediate release of all political prisoners. Petr Kaznacheev, leader of the Anti-fascist Youth Movement, said that now is the time to draw the attention of the Russian democratic community to the presidential elections in Belarus. He warned that under the pretext of integration Russian communists intend to "impose a Belarusian-style dictatorship on Russia." The young anti-fascists are determined to organize a series of pickets in front of the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow. They also plan to visit Minsk in late April to joint the traditional Chernobylski shlyakh (Chernobyl procession), in Minsk. (Radio 101.2, March 16)

POPULAR FRONT’S MOGILEV HEADQUARTERS SEARCHED
On March 18, police searched the Mogilev regional headquarters of the Belarusian Popular Front. According to the opposition Central Election Committee, police confiscated clean petition lists and colored election posters. On the same day, Ales Kanapacky, an activist of Young Front, was on trial for collecting signatures for presidential candidate Zyanon Paznyak. Despite being only 16 years old, Kanapacky was jailed as an adult (which contradicts Belarusian law) and received a fine of 250 thousand Belarusian rubles "for violation of the election law." (Charter 97, March 18)

AUTHORITIES SEIZE PROPERTY OF OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER-
Property of the Belarusian Business Newspaper was seized by the authorities on March 17. Office equipment and furniture was seized according to the decision of the court, which awarded 1 billion 100 million Belarusian roubles ($3.5 thousand) to Minister of Sports Ananyev in satisfaction of his suit to the newspaper for "moral damage" caused by the newspapers' publication. The sum is the record for the lawsuits of this kinds in Belarus so far. (Charter97, March 18)

POZNYAK SEEKS INTERNATIONAL GUARANTEES FOR SAFE RETURN TO BELARUS

An exiled opposition leader has asked international agencies to guarantee his safety if he returns to Belarus to run for president in the May 16 election which the opposition is trying to organize. "As a professional politician, political refugee, and candidate for the presidency of Belarus, I need international guarantees for a safe return to the country which I fled in order to escape political persecution," Zenon Poznyak, Belarusian Popular Front leader, who lives in the United States, said in a letter. Copies of the appeal went to the UN Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, the OSCE, and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. In the letter Poznyak also insisted that the West send observers to monitor the entire election campaign. (Interfax, March 15)

COUNCIL OF DEMOCRATIC FORCES OF BELARUS AND RUSSIA ESTABLISHED

Prominent politicians, NGO leaders, and journalists from Russia and Belarus participated in public hearings, which took place in Moscow on March 18, on the plans for Russia-Belarus integration. The hearings resulted in the foundation of the Council of Democratic Forces of Belarus and Russia. Participants issued a memorandum in which they welcomed "close and mutually advantageous cooperation in fields of economy, science, and culture." At the same time they pointed out that the current political and economic situation in Russia and Belarus makes it impossible to resolve the problem of integration in a proper, civilized way. "We believe that the issue on integration of Russia and Belarus shall not be resolved until democratic freedoms are restored in Belarus and free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections are held in accordance with the 1994 Constitution," reads a memorandum. (Charter 97, March 19)

CHARTER 97 COLLECTS 109,000 SIGNATURES

According to Andrei Sannikov, Charter 97 international coordinator and former Belarusian deputy foreign minister, as the political situation in the country is growing increasingly tense, the Charter is expanding its activities to a qualitatively new level. The civic movement has already collected 109,000 signatures of support. Sannikov said that political forces are ready for dialogue, but remarked that "after five years, Lukashenko has convincingly proved that he is impossible to deal with." However, Sannikov does believe that political and economic crises may force the Belarusian president to agree to a dialogue. (Belapan, March 11)

BELARUSIAN OPPOITION MEMBERS VISIT POLAND

On March 18, Leszek Miller, leader of the Polish Democratic Left Alliance, met with Nikolai Statkevich, leader of the Narodnaya Hramada (Belarusian Social Democratic Party) and Mechislav Grib, ex-speaker of the 12^th Supreme Soviet. The Belarusian politicians, who traveled to Poland at Miller's invitation, also held talks with representatives of the Polish Peasant Party and the Solidarity Election Action caucus and met with Maciej Plazynski, Speaker of the Sejm. (PAP News Wire, March 18)

LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY CLAIMS DISCRIMINATION IN LOCAL ELECTIONS

On March 15, the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus issued a statement saying that its candidates in the 1999 elections for local councils "have been a target of discrimination in one form or another, from both the election commissions and the executive authorities". The statement was a result of an assessment of the party's performance at the initial stages of preparation for the local soviet elections scheduled for April 4. According to the statement, LDPB candidates were denied registration for political reasons without legal grounds in the towns of Bobruysk and Gorki and in the Mogilev region. The party has warned that it may withdraw its candidates altogether. The decision will be made at a joint session of the LDPB Supreme Council and Central Committee scheduled for March 31. (Belapan, March 15)

BELARUSIAN ASKS FOR POLITICAL ASYLUM IN LITHUANIA

Georgy Stefanovski, a 75-year-old Belarusian citizen who identified himself as a researcher and playwright, asked for political asylum in Lithuania, its border police said. On a train going from Belarus to the Lithuanian capital on March 15, he produced a USSR passport to the Lithuanian border police and asked for political asylum. According to the statement by the Lithuanian Police Department, Stefanovski said in his application that he, as a researcher, a playwright, and a poet, was unable bring his scientific discoveries to fruition in Belarus. Therefore, he offered his services to Lithuania. The Migration Department's Refugee Affairs Office decided to let Stefanovski stay in Lithuania and he was handed over to the Refugee Reception Center. (Baltic News Service, March 17)

BELARUS SEEKS SECURITY GUARANTEES FROM NATO

On March 16, Ural Latypov, Belarusian Foreign Minister, urged NATO to offer his country security guarantees after neighboring Poland was granted a full membership in the defense alliance. "So far we haven't received any guarantees, even unwritten," Latypov told a news conference. "We have in mind something aimed at building up mutual trust, something which could be put in writing and contain a promise not to deploy nuclear weapons next to our borders. I think it is a legitimate request." At the same time Latypov added that Belarus does not think that the formal admission of Poland into NATO will sour bilateral links between Minsk and Warsaw. (Reuters, March 19)

SHOTS NEAR LUKASHENKO'S RESIDENCE , MAN ARRESTED

On March 17, the Belarusian KGB announced that it had arrested a construction company driver for firing several shots into the air in front of the residence of President Lukashenko. A KGB official said that the 44-year-old man had fled after firing two shots and hid in his apartment, threatening to shoot police. But he gave himself up after negotiations and is now being detained on criminal hooliganism charges. "Our preliminary findings suggest that his motives were mundane," reads the KGB statement, playing down any political implications. He will undergo a psychiatric test. (Reuters, March 18)

WORLD BANK DECIDES TO REOPEN MISSION

The World Bank has adopted a preliminary decision to reopen its mission in Belarus. The news was released by Paul Siegelbaum, who is in charge of Belarus and Ukraine, at his meeting with Sergey Ling, Belarusian Prime Minister, on March 17. He added that the World Bank will try to resume and expand its activities in Belarus. At the same time he made it clear that this does not mean that the World Bank will immediately extend loans to Belarus. (ITAR-TASS, March 17)

--BROTHER SLAVS --

BELARUS TO STRENGTHEN FORCES TO BALANCE NATO ENLARGEMENT

Belarus will strengthen its collaboration with Russia to counterbalance the admission of the three former Soviet bloc states into NATO, Lukashenko said on March 12, while visiting Ukraine. Lukashenko told a press conference that the Belarusian Security Council had requested him "to promptly consider a major reinforcement of the armed forces." He said that he was conducting "serious consultations with Russia" although the question of re-deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus was not discussed. Russia disapproves of the former Warsaw Pact states joining NATO but has accepted the development as a fait accompli. It has also developed its own links with NATO, notably through the creation of a joint NATO-Russia Council of cooperation and consultation. (Agence France Presse, March 12)

POLISH-BASED BELARUSIAN RADIO APPROVED

The Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza published an interview on March 22 with, chairman of the Local Council for Broadcasting and Television (KRRiTV). He confirmed that the KRRiTV adopted a decision to allocate a frequency for the radio station to broadcast to Belarus.

Mr. Soulik said: "I hope to complete all related matters by late May so that the radio station can go on the air. We’d like to successfully complete the project which we started in the summer of 1998. That is why I’m glad to receive consent from the KRRiTV. For Belarusians this radio is expected to be what Radio Free Europe was for communist Poland." (Gazet Wyborcza, Charter 97, March 22)

CHINA PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR BELARUS AT UN

Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan expressed China's willingness to support Belarus's position at the UN Human Rights Commission at his recent meeting with Vyachaslav Kuznetsov, the Belarusian ambassador to the People's Republic of China. As Belapan learned from the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, they discussed Belarusian-Chinese cooperation in international organizations and the state of and prospects for bilateral relations. The Chinese foreign minister pointed out a similarity in the two countries' approaches to principal international problems. Tang Jiaxuan stressed the particular role of contact between Lukashenko and Chinese President Jiang Zemin in the promotion of the dynamic development of Belarusian-Chinese ties. (Belapan, March 12)

A PROXY STATE

Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the ILHR

Belarus is the post-Soviet story everybody was hoping wouldn't happen. Much of the reason for that unfortunate development is that it has become a country of proxies. For the United States, Belarus is a proxy for frustrations at the slow pace of post cold-war reform, a country Washington can criticize for abuses it is reluctant to criticize forcefully in other post-communist countries.

For its neighbors, Poland and Lithuania, their tacit support for the Belarusian opposition serves as a proxy for a tough policy and as a cost-free demonstration for their commitment to Western values. And for Russia, Belarus serves as a proxy for Soviet-style behavior Moscow has not renounced and for expressions of aspirations for Slavic unity.

But most Belarusians do not have the luxury of living by proxy. Their lives are all too real, including waiting in line for what some call "proxy eggs." These eggs have disappeared from the shelves because they were shipped to feed the Russian military in payment for Belarus' Gazprom debt -- or so the grumblers in the long lines complain.

If the Belarusian people can't live by proxy, the Belarusian opposition sometimes has been forced to precisely because of the way many outsiders have played this game. Unable to gain mass support because of their lack of access to media and persistent Soviet-style attitudes of accepting whoever is in power, the opposition there has seen its ranks repeatedly reduced by the hundreds as a result of 10-day jail sentences for participation in peaceful demonstrations. Activists have been forced into temporary or permanent exile or internal emigration for fear of retaliation against relatives.

Despite all this, there are some encouraging signs: young people are joining the opposition in greater numbers, the small but feisty independent press continues to operate, Charter 97, a protest group styled on the one in Czechoslovakia, has garnered 100,000 signatures, and workers have gone into the streets by the thousands.

But because support for these activities has waned as outsiders engage in their proxy campaigns, these new infusions may not arrive soon enough to prevent more disasters.

And as a result, some leaders of the Belarusian opposition hope to be able to wage their terribly real struggle by proxy as well, all the while retaining their belief that "the West" will step in and stand up to the bullies, carve out a space where the opposition can breathe, and sustain it morally and financially. So far, however, the opposition has been disappointed, and its disappointments have turned into anger, as demonstrated in the case of Victor Gonchar. He heads the opposition Central Electoral Commission, appointed by a democratic parliament, which questioned Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka's fraudulent referendum in 1996, and was therefore closed down by leather-jacketed thugs. Since then, Gonchar and his colleagues in the 13th Supreme Soviet -- the democratically-elected parliament also suppressed by Lukashenka -- have been struggling valiantly but in vain to restore the basic institutions of democracy.

This problem has been compounded by Germany's new role. Ambassador Hans-Georg Wieck of Germany, head of the OSCE mission in Minsk, has called for a compromise in Belarus. The Germans have now rotated into the chair of the European Union, and lead the European chorus, always mindful of Russia's wrath, to keep the Belarus problem as a "dialogue" inside OSCE. Such a quid pro quo would allow Lukashenka to stay in office until 2001 without facing the elections mandated under the 1994 constitution he abrogated. And objections by several other German political figures -- such as Erika Schroedter, a Green member of the German parliament who serves as a delegate to the OSCE -- give some hope that Bonn may change its position eventually.

Jacobo Timmerman, the Argentine writer and himself a former political prisoner, once said, "Quiet diplomacy is quiet. Silent diplomacy is surrender." When European institutions called upon to defend human rights vigorously refuse to stand up to bullies, they will ultimately suffer as well. The proxy war in Belarus is raging largely out of sight of the world, and rather than understanding it as a fight about human rights and democracy, key Western figures have reduced it to a political quarrel about a constitution that needs "compromise, dialogue, and mediation." By relativizing the underlying human rights disaster that preceded the current impasse, OSCE and the European Parliament have betrayed the Helsinki principles. "There cannot be a dialogue from prison," noted Boris Gyunter, one of the Belarusian opposition leaders who was recently sent to jail. (RFE/RL, March 18)