To: Alexander Lukashenko Republic of Belarus FAX: 011 375 172 26 06 10
cc: Oleg Bozhelko Prosecutor-General FAX: +375 172 23 43 58
Amb.Kozak FAX: +375 172 34 78 53

December 29, 1999

Dear Mr. Lukashenko,

The International League for Human Rights, an international non-governmental human rights organization with consultative status at ECOSOC UN, is writing to express serious concern about the decision of the Belarusian Supreme Court of December 18, 2000, to recognize as lawful the closure of Magic, an independent publishing house printing a number of democratic opposition newspapers.

On September 5, 1997, a contract was signed, which transferred the publishing equipment from the Belarusian Branch of the Soros Foundation to the Open Society Institute. Later, this equipment was leased to Magic. In October, 2000, the Supreme Court of Belarus closed Magic and confiscated its equipment in order to cancel the debts the Soros Foundation allegedly owed the state of Belarus. The League has repeatedly taken the position that this characterization of the "tax debts" of the Belarusian Soros Foundation is politically-motivated and unjust, since charitable, non-profit activity for education, humanitarian work, human rights, and democracy-building ought not to be taxed. In any event, the seizure of Magic equipment is unlawful since it no longer belongs to the Soros Foundation, and, therefore, cannot be used to pay the Foundation's alleged debts.

The League sees further evidence of a political motivation for this act in the earlier detention of Yuri Budzko, director of Magic, who was charged with violation of Article 167.3 of the Administrative Violations Code (violation of electoral legislation) for publishing a special issue of Rabochy, an independent newspaper, calling for boycott of the parliamentary elections. The League notes that calls for a boycott are in fact legal under the Belarus Constitution and as well as under international standards for the protection of freedom of speech and the press.

The League views the closure of Magic as yet another step in the continuing and recently stepped-up campaign to crack down on the free press in Belarus. We urge you to ensure that this and other gross violations of the basic principles of freedom of press are ended immediately. Thank you for your attention, and we await your response.

Sincerely,
Catherine Fitzpatrick Executive Director