INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole
Vol. 2, No. 34
August 1999
IN THIS ISSUE:
-- HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS --
DIALOGUE! WHAT DIALOGUE?
On August 14, commenting on the possibility of a dialogue between the Belarusian authorities and the democratic forces, Lukashenko once more denounced the opposition. "These gentlemen [opposition leaders], who represent no one but themselves, are trying to use any flimsy excuse to somehow advance themselves in politics. I must tell you that there is no Belarusian opposition as such. There is fighting between Gonchar [Deputy Chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet] and Sharetski [Chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet]; Shushkevich, [Chairman of the Central Committee of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party], Bogdankevich, [Chairman of the United Civic Party], and Paznyak [leader of the Belarusian Popular Front]. When one talks about a dialogue with the opposition, it usually means a dialogue between the government and opposition political parties, mass movements, and NGOs. There should be no seats for gonchars, sharetskis, paznyaks, and the like. The desires of these individuals to briefly share a table with the president and then to run across Europe, shouting: ‘Look, we’ve convinced Lukashenko!’ Nonsense! Nobody will be able to push me," Lukashenko uttered. (BBC, August 18)
ONLY "TRUE" OPPOSITION SHOULD TAKE PART IN TALKS WITH AUTHORITIES
On August 13, Anatoly Lebedko, deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet, told journalists in Minsk that only four or five parties which "really represent the opposition" should participate in talks with the authorities under the auspices of the OSCE. "Since the past spring, when the possibility of talks emerged, a lot of political parties have attempted to join the opposition. There is an impression that the authorities are trying to make the opposition as numerous and wide as possible. The main thing is that it is not firm soil, it is a swamp," Lebedko said. The deputy believes that the democratic forces will be inevitably defeated by Lukashenko at the forthcoming negotiations "if the delegation from the opposition includes people who have nothing to do with it." In his opinion, the Supreme Soviet should play the role of a coordinating center. (Belapan, August 13)
OPPOSITION NAMES ITS REPRESENTATIVES AT NEGOTIATIONS
On August 17, Anatoly Lebedko informed the Charter 97 press center that he would head the delegation from the opposition at an OSCE sponsored negotiations with the authorities. It will also include Anatoly Korol, Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, Oleg Trusov and Vintsuk Vyachorka, both representatives of the Belarusian Popular Front, Valentina Polevikova, Chairwoman of the Nadzeya Belarusian Women Party, Leonid Lemeshonok, Chairman of the Belarusian Labor Party, and either Sergey Kalyakin or Elena Skrigan, from the Central Committee of the Belarusian Communist Party. On August 16, Adrian Severin, head of the Working Group of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, told RFE/RL's Belarusian Service that neither the OSCE nor Alexander Lukashenko has the right to decide who will participate in the talks on behalf of the opposition. This comment was meant to be a response to Lukashenko's recent statement that the 13th Supreme Soviet, which the Belarusian democratic forces authorized to conduct negotiations with the government, does not represent the country's opposition. On August 18, Hans Georg-Wieck met Lebedko to discuss preparations for the forthcoming dialogue. (RFE/RL, Charter 97, Belapan, August 17-18)
OSCE HEAD OUTLINES HIS EXPECTATIONS OF POLITICAL DIALOGUE
"The lack of democratic institutions in Belarus can be remedied only through a peaceful compromise between the two opposing sides," Hans Georg-Wieck, head of the OSCE AMG in Belarus, said in an interview to Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, an independent newspaper. Wieck stressed that the talks should aim at "seeking sufficient common grounds for the adoption of a new Law on Elections, which would ensure the nationwide access of the opposition to the media, and creating a parliament with significant functions and powers." Wieck admitted that there are many people who do not believe that the talks will yield any serious results. Yet, democratic reform can be accomplished only through political dialogue. The political parties and public associations should prepare their programs and platforms covering their vision of challenging issues, particularly in economics, finance, monetary and social policy, health care, and education. Wieck also urged the authorities to provide opposition political parties with access to the electronic mass-media to disseminate information about their programs. (Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, August 18)
TWO BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS MEET IN POLAND
On August 13, Semyon Sharetski met with Zyanon Paznyak at the editorial office of Niva, a Belarusian weekly in Poland, to discuss the current political situation in Belarus. In an interview with Niva, Sharetski supported the idea of establishing a private Belarusian radio station in Poland. Answering the question: "Will the Belarusian opposition ever unite?", Zyanon Paznyak replied: "No, it will not." "This is impossible, because there are two oppositions in Belarus: One is the nomenclature opposition, whose aim is to come back to power; and the other is the national liberation opposition, whose goal is to stop the annexation of Belarus by Russia, to return and to consolidate Belarusian independence, and replace the whole nomenklatura administration with a national administration," Paznyak said. (BBC, August 18)
EXILED OPPOSITION LEADER URGES REMOVAL OF ILLEGAL REGIME
The return of Belarus to democracy is possible only after "the removal of the current illegal regime from power," says Semyon Sharetski, Chairman of the dissolved Belarusian parliament. Sharetski gave a news conference for journalists in Vilnius, where he has been since mid-July. He added that the Belarusian opposition is ready for talks with the authorities. "Yet, there can be no dialogue, if Alexander Lukashenko is treated as a legitimate president," Sharetski said. (Interfax, August 17)
EX-MINISTER CRITICIZES LUKASHENKO AT TRIAL
On August 17, Vasily Leonov, former Minister of Agriculture imprisoned on "corruption charges," stated that his sentence had already been determined by Lukashenko. Looking thin but in a good mood after almost two years in jail, Leonov, 53, told a mid-level panel of the Supreme Court judges that he did not expect to have a fair trial. "I am convinced that the Court, just like investigators and prosecutors before, will not be governed by the law in examining this case but by the Lukashenko’s directives," Leonov said. Court officials declined to comment on the allegations. Leonov also told the court that he wanted to use the trial to record for future generations the absurdity of the charges against him. Leonov was arrested in November 1997 in connection with a high-profile case involving the illegal privatization of the Rassvet collective farm headed by Valery Starovoitov, who was tried earlier, getting two years of imprisonment. The Minister was charged with major embezzlement, bribery, illegal gun possession, and the abuse of power. Under the Belarusian Criminal Code, some of these crimes may result in a 15-year imprisonment. If found guilty, Leonov has a right to appeal to the chairman of the Supreme Court. At the time of his arrest Leonov was a popular minister with pro-market views who often criticized Lukashenko for the lack of reforms in the agriculture. (Reuters, August 18)
BPF ACTING CHAIRMAN PROTESTS AGAINST SUSPENDED RE-REGISTRATION
Lyavon Barshchewski, acting Chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front, sent a letter to the Belarusian Ministry of Justice, protesting against the recent Ministry’s decision to suspend the re-registration of the BPF as a public association. The BPF was advised to alter its charter and re-register as a political party. The Ministry of Justice notified the BPF that its application will not be considered unless it brings its by-laws in line with the resolutions of the National Commission on Registration and Re-registration. Barshchewski pointed out that the BPF by-laws did not prevent the Ministry from re-registering the BPF in December 1995. Barshchewski strongly believes that the BPF’s charter complies with the Belarusian Constitution and wonders whether some resolutions of the Commission might override it. In his opinion, the Ministry aims to deprive the country's largest opposition organization of its status at a time when talks between the government and the opposition are about to commence. (Belapan, August 13)
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE REFUSES TO RE-REGISTER OPPOSITION ASSOCIATION
At an August 16 press conference in Minsk, Anatoly Lebedko, President of the Belarusian Association of Young Politicians, announced that the Ministry of Justice had refused to re-register the Association. The decision was based on the ostensible non-compliance of some provisions of the Association’s by-laws with the Ministry’s requirements. "We consider this refusal as a sheer political move. We repeatedly try to get some meaningful advice from the Ministry, trying to please it, but have received no comments. Clearly, the Belarusian leadership, which lost its authority on July 20, uses any opportunity to prevent further activity of the democratic opposition organizations," Lebedko said. (Charter 97, August 18)
LANGUAGE SOCIETY LOCAL LEADER BEATEN BY POLICE
Activists of the Belarusian Language Society sent a letter to the prosecutor of the Moskovsky district of the City of Minsk, demanding that he charge the police officers who illegally detained and severely beat Aleksey Lapitski, leader of the BLS Zhodino branch (Minsk region). Lapitski was detained in Minsk on July 21, after the opposition protest marking the end of Lukashenko's five-year presidency. The results of his physical examination showed that he had been beaten up during his detention. Later, Lapitski was accused of participating in an unsanctioned demonstration. (Belapan, August 13)
TRADE UNION CALLS LUKASHENKO'S LABOUR EDICT "ANTI-PEOPLE"
The Belarusian Independent Trade Union at the Grodno-based Azot Chemical Plant has condemned Lukashenko’s Decree "On Additional Measures Aimed at the Improvement of Labor Relations and the Strengthening of Work Discipline." This statement was made at meetings held by all the 10 core organizations of the trade union. Workers believe that the Decree will allow the administration to easily get rid of activists of the independent trade union by refusing to extend their contracts. They have sent a letter to Lukashenko, demanding an immediate repeal of the "the anti-people Decree." Vladimir Salevich, deputy chairman of the union, told Belapan that almost 700 Azot employees are now members of the Union, four times more than at the beginning of the year. (Belapan, August 18)
WORKERS GO ON STRIKE IN MINSK
On August 16, a spontaneous strike arose at the Minsk Motor Plant. About 500 people left their work stations, demanding to pay wage arrears. Within an hour workers from one of the shops received their salaries. (Charter 97, August 18)
--AT HOME IN BELARUS--
HALF OF MINSK RESIDENTS AGAINST UNIFICATION WITH RUSSIA
Fifty-one per cent of 600 Minsk residents, interviewed by the Belapan News Agency on August 12-15, said that they would vote against unification with Russia. Thirty-one per cent would vote for the union. Forty-five per cent of the respondents found it difficult to say whom they would like to see the president of the Russia-Belarus Union. Nine per cent named Lukashenko, two per cent preferred Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian Liberal Democratic leader, and two per cent chose Sergei Stepashin, former Russian Prime Minister. Fifty-three per cent of the respondents do not believe that free and fair parliamentary elections could take place in Belarus in 2000. Thirty-three per cent said that they do not see a good candidate for whom they would vote if a presidential election took place today. Eleven per cent of the respondents said that they would not participate in the voting at all and another eleven per cent would vote against all candidates. Among the politicians who were named by the interviewed as their choice, Alexander Lukashenko received 15 per cent, a drop from 23 percent in June, Zyanon Paznyak 3 per cent and Mikhail Chigir 2 per cent. (Belapan, August 17-20)
FOUR RUSSIAN FOOTBALL FANS ARRESTED IN MINSK
About 60 Russian soccer fans and one Belarusian were detained by police in Minsk following a fight between supporters of the Russian and Belarusian national football teams. Police said that several hundred fans from the two sides clashed on August 18 at the Dynamo stadium after the Belarusian team lost. Four Moscow soccer fans who were most vicious in the brawl were arrested for "outrageous behavior." Sixteen people were sentenced to ten days in prison for "petty hooliganism." Others were fined or reprimanded. Five youths will be kept in a halfway house until their parents arrive from Russia to pick them up. The Russian Soccer Federation expressed the readiness to fully compensate for material damage resulting from the havoc provoked by Russian fans. (Itar-Tass, August 20)
BELARUS APPROVES STATUTES ON ACTIVITIES OF ARMS CONTROL AGENCY
The Belarusian government has approved the regulations of the National Monitoring and Inspection Agency at the Belarusian Ministry of Defense. Its objective is to implement Belarus's commitments to international arms-control treaties. The agency will be responsible for the implementation of the Soviet-US agreements on the elimination of medium-range and short-range missiles and on the restrictions of anti-missile systems. The agency will also supervise the fulfillment of the treaty "On Conventional Armed Forces in Europe," the Vienna agreements, the strengthening of security and cooperation, the Open Skies treaty, the Convention on the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and their Destruction, and a number of other arms control treaties and agreements, to which Belarus is a party. (Belapan, August 16)
--BELARUSIAN ECONOMY--
WORLD BANK: TIME FOR REFORMS RUNNING OUT
"Belarus is running out of time to carry out a number of essential market reforms," Sergei Kulik, new permanent representative of the World Bank in Belarus, said at a news conference in Minsk. Kulik believes that the absence of reforms results in "overconsumption of financial resources, hidden unemployment, and acute pauperization of the population." He admitted that the World Bank "overestimated the potential of the post-Communist countries economies to be transformed within short periods." He added, however, that lots of these countries' problems have been caused not so much by market reforms as by the absence thereof. Kulik stressed that despite certain peculiarities, "nobody can avoid conforming with objective economic laws." (BBC, August 20)
--BROTHER SLAVS—
LUKASHENKO: UNION WITH RUSSIA IS SACRED
On August 17, in a telegram to Vladimir Putin, the new Russian Premier, Alexander Lukashenko expressed his confidence that under Putin's guidance the Russian government, "will be able to overcome the problems now existing in Russia, which will be also of much importance to Belarus." "I hope that at this important historic stage you will do your best so that Belarusian-Russian relations will develop more vigorously in the framework of the Union," the telegram said. "The Union with Russia is sacred for Belarus. We are ready to wait for six months or for a year, if necessary. We should approach this matter seriously," Alexander Lukashenko said during his tour of the Minsk region. "If Russia is ready to strike the union today, Belarus will only welcome such decision. The only criteria should be those of decency, honesty, and equality," he added. (Itar-Tass, August 17-18)
SIBERIA UNITES WITH BELARUS
The Siberian Interregional Association has started to collect signatures for holding a countrywide referendum in Russia on the integration of the Russian Federation and Belarus, said Vladimir Ivankov, its Executive Director. A specially appointed officials will be sent to all regions of Siberia. (Segodnya, August 18)
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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 58th 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 or visit our web site at www.ilhr.org.