STREMKOVSKAYA TO BE DISBARRED IN MINSK

On October 13, Vera Stremkovskaya, a prominent Belarusian civil defense lawyer was informed that she will be reprimanded and disbarred and that her license to practice law will be revoked. The reason given by Vice-Minister of Justice Golovanov was her recent trip to the United States and her pronouncements on the human rights situation in Belarus. The Justice Ministry's actions against Stremkovskaya were based, she says, on a letter received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The letter, says Stremkovskaya, was drafted by two representatives of the Belarusian Mission to the UN who attended the League's Breakfast Briefing on the Rule of Law in Belarus during Vera Stremkovskaya's and Mikhail Pastukhov's U.S. visit on September 23. This same letter will be sent to the Minsk Lawyers' Collegium and she will be reprimanded and relieved of her license to practice.

According to Stremkovskaya, the letter of denunciation, which she was allowed to read at the meeting with Golovanov, was sent to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Uladzimir Vantsevich and Igar Gubarevich of the Belarusian Mission to the UN (of the 6th and 3rd Committees respectively). The letter described Stremkovskaya and Pastukhov as fierce oppositionists, however, to our knowledge, neither Vera Stremkovskaya nor Mikhail Pastukhov belong to any opposition political parties. The two Belarusian representatives also noted the lawyers' critical remarks at the ILHR Breakfast Briefing of September 23 on the human rights situation in Belarus as well as their criticism of the current Belarusian laws and constitution. The Belarusian representatives also protested against the one-sided nature of the briefing, maintaining that only thanks to their presence was the "balance of forces" preserved implying that otherwise people would have believed the oppositionists' falsified version of the facts.

It is worth noting that the Belarusian UN Mission representatives used Pastukhov's and Stremkovskaya's presence in such a meeting and their ability to travel freely without reprisals awaiting them back home as an example of the progress Belarus has made in human rights. Contrary to their assurances, Stremkovskaya is now being reprised, though there was nothing unethical or illegal in her behavior in the U.S. In addition, now that Stremkovskaya has been called to answer for her U.S. trip, she has also been denied freedom to travel to Prague for a conference she had planned to attend from October 19 through 23.

According to Stremkovskaya, during their conversation Vice-Minister Golovanov implied that she might formally denounce ex-Constitutional Justice Mikhail Pastukhov in order to improve her own situation. Stremkovskaya refused to do any such thing. In view of the situation, Ms. Stremkovskaya has asked the League and all other organizations she visited on her recent trip to the U.S. to publicize the news of her being disbarred. She also asks that the League and other human rights and law-related NGOs and government organizations take action in the form of writing letters of support on her behalf to the Ministry of Justice and to the Minsk Lawyers' Collegium.

The process of disbarring Stremkovskaya has just begun. The League will keep you informed of new developments.