INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 3, No. 2
January 2000

IN THIS ISSUE:

- HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS -

LUKASHENKO MAKES CHANGES TO ELECTORAL CODE
Alexander Lukashenko has agreed to some important changes in the draft electoral code, Anatoly Krasutski, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee for State Construction, Local Self-Government and Regulations, said on January 4. The new code will apply to presidential, parliamentary and local elections as well as national and local referenda. It will also set the procedure for recalling members of the National Assembly. The House of Representatives is expected to give the code a second reading during its upcoming special session. According to Krasutski, Lukashenko agreed to reduce the required voter turnout threshold from 50 to 25 percent in the runoff round, to allow candidates with a previous record of minor civil offences to run in elections, to lift restrictions on the amount of election literature and to make candidates more flexible in spending funds that they receive from the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda. (Belapan, January 4)

SHADOW CABINET CRITICIZES NEW ELECTORAL CODE
On January 3, the National Executive Committee, the Belarusian shadow cabinet, released a statement criticizing the draft electoral code prepared by the authorities. The statement described the draft as "artificial in form and in content, undemocratic and in violation of international legal standards." Parliamentary elections should be held on the basis of a procedure resulting from a compromise between the authorities and the political opposition, according to the statement's authors. The National Executive Committee also confirmed its support of the OSCE initiative to develop democratic electoral laws to be approved through the negotiation process between the authorities and opposition. (Belapan, January 3)

NO TO LUKASHENKO'S PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
On January 5, at the session of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian Democratic Forces held in Minsk, representatives of the largest opposition parties and movements decided not to participate in the parliamentary elections to be organized by the Lukashenko regime this year. They stressed that they would take part in the elections only if free, fair, and democratic voting is ensured, which is only possible through a dialogue between the government and opposition. So far, the Lukashenko's regime has not done much to facilitate such a dialogue. The Coordination Council also discussed possible protest actions for the coming spring, the main objective of which will be to encourage either democratic parliamentary election or the resignation of the current authorities. (Charter 97, January 6)

LUKASHENKO, RESIGN!
On January 5, activists of the Belarusian Human Rights League and the Belarusian Human Rights Association gathered in the reception room of the Presidential administration to demand Lukashenko's resignation. They signed a petition reminding the illegal Belarusian president of his electoral pledge to resign if he failed to introduce order in the country, stop price hikes, improve living standards, return lost Soviet-era savings, and punish corrupt officials within a year. The petitioners stressed that Lukashenko has failed to meet those promises, adding that he should follow Boris Yeltsin's example. (Belapan, January 6)

OPPOSITION PROTESTS IN BOBRUISK
On January 4, an unsanctioned peaceful protest was staged in the city of Bobruisk (Minsk region). It was initiated by the Malady Front and representatives of other democratic NGOs. About 70 people entered the town's central avenue and stood there for one hour with burning candles in their hands demanding Lukashenko's resignation and freedom to all political prisoners. (Charter 97, January 6)

DATE SET FOR TRIAL OF OPPOSITION LEADER
Mikhail Chigir, former Prime Minister and opposition leader, will go on trial on January 19, the Minsk City Court announced on January 5. The court rejected two proposed defense lawyers, and Chigir will still be represented by his wife Julia and by prominent lawyer Garry Pogonyailo. Julia Chigir's efforts to secure legal defense for her husband have been complicated by the political situation in the country. In a December 27 interview with RFE/RL's Belarus Service, she said: "All our lawyers are dependent on the authorities. Although they are indignant when I say so, this is true. Because if some of their actions do not please the authorities, the authorities will simply take their licenses from them. Eleven people whom I trust have declined my request [to defend my husband] by saying: 'This is a purely political case, and I cannot help you properly. Therefore, I do not want to be paid money for nothing.'"

Chigir is accused of abuse of power and embezzlement from the state of $4.1 million while he was chairman of the Belagroindustrialbank and prime minister. He faces up to eight years in prison. The accused reiterated after the 5 January hearing that the charge is politically-motivated. Chigir has been under house arrest since October 30. Prior to that he spent more than 18 months in detention. (Agence France Presse, January 6; RFE/RL December 27)

KLIMOV: JAIL GUARDS WANTED TO KILL ME
The wife of Andrei Klimov, imprisoned deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet, told Belapan that her husband believed that jail guards wanted to kill him during the December 13 beating (see Belarus Update Vol. 2, No. 51), but something prevented them from doing so. Mrs. Klimov added that her husband would spend at least ten more days in the hospital. The trial has been suspended until January 10. Klimov's relatives have filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office, demanding that criminal charges be brought against the officers responsible for the abuse. In an official statement, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that nobody beat Klimov and that guards just "had to use some physical force" to bring him to the courthouse. According to the statement, the prisoner received "insignificant bodily harm that did not entail short-term health disorders." In this regard, the Prosecutor General's Office refused to institute criminal proceedings as the jailed deputy's relatives demanded in their complaint. As Valery Semyonov, senior assistant to the Minsk city prosecutor, told Belapan, "Doctors at Minsk's Ninth Clinical Hospital examined Klimov on December 20 and 21 and discovered no serious disorders." (Belapan, January 3)

LEONOV STANDS TRIAL, NO PROOF SEEN
The defense lawyers of Vasily Leonov, former Minister of Agriculture, petitioned the Belarusian Supreme Court to dismiss the case for lack of sufficient evidence. The former minister was indicted on three counts, the most serious of which is large-scale embezzlement. On November 11, the Belarusian Supreme Court rejected the petition on the pretext that the charges against him are too serious. Public defenders Boris Zvozkov and Svetlana Vlasova, Leonov's daughter, believe that none of the elements of his criminal case have been proven. Even prosecution representatives suggested that some of the charges be dropped as unsubstantiated. The next session will be held on January 11, when the defendant will make his final plea. (Belarusian Association of Journalists, January 4)
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13th SUPREME SOVIET ASKS UKRAINE ABOUT ZAKHARENKO AND GONCHAR
The Belarusian opposition Supreme Soviet has officially requested Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to confirm or dismiss information about the possible location of disappeared opposition figures Yury Zakharenko and Viktor Gonchar on the territory of Ukraine. According to Anatoly Lebedko, chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet Committee on International Affairs, this is made to halt speculations by the Belarusian authorities, who earlier alleged that Gonchar and Zakharenko had been seen in Ukraine. (Belarusian Association of Journalists, January 6)

OPPOSITION PARTY LAUNCHES PROTEST CAMPAIGN
The BNF Conservative Christian Party, led by Zyanon Paznyak, has launched a permanent action entitled "Belarusian Solidarity." The party is collecting signatures under an appeal statement to be forwarded to the UN, OSCE, and governments of the U.S. and U.K., urging them not to recognize the December union treaty between Russia and Belarus. Over 5,000 signatures have reportedly been gathered so far. BNF deputy chairman Vyacheslav Sivchik also said that on 25 March citizens will be invited to come out on the streets to mark the 82nd anniversary of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. (Belapan, January 5)

BELARUSIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE WINS ANOTHER CASE IN COURT
On January 5, the Sovetsky District Court in Minsk ruled in favor of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, well-known for its work to promote human rights and democracy in Belarus, and Gary Pogonyailo, a prominent Belarusian civil rights attorney, in their case against the Slaviansky Nabat (Slavic Alarm Bell) newspaper, which has repeatedly defamed both the BHC and Pogonyailo. Judge Gennady Dashuk held that a recent article entitled "You are impostors, gentlemen: The Belarusian Helsinki Committee violates human rights" provided false and misleading information, which seriously harmed the reputation and good will of the BHC and Pogonyailo. The Court ordered the newspaper or its editor-in-chief Akulov to pay the 50 million BRB fine (about $70) and court costs. (BHC, January 5)

- BROTHER SLAVS-

YELTSIN LEADS "NEW CHRISTIANS" ON PILGRIMAGE TO HOLY LAND
On January 6, Boris Yeltsin and leaders of six other Orthodox countries, including Alexander Lukashenko, were conferred the Order of a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher, one of the highest awards of the Orthodox Church. The award ceremony took place in the Orthodox Church Patriarchate in Jerusalem. The Slavic leaders all spent many decades professing atheism while serving as senior figures of the Soviet system. They were keenly aware, however, of the domestic electoral significance of marking 1,000 years of existence of the Russian Orthodox Church and the third millennium of Christ. In addition, they hoped to give energy to a reunification with the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which was formed by fleeing White Russians after the revolution. In 1997, the Church abroad handed the Trinity Monastery over to Patriarch Aleksey II as part of a rapprochement. But deep divisions remain. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat awarded Lukashenko with the Bethlehem 2000 Order for his "assistance in the struggle for the independence of the Palestinian people and the strengthening of friendship between the Belarusian and Palestinian peoples." (BBC, January 6)

PUTIN ARRANGES SUMMIT OF CIS
Vladimir Putin, Russia's acting President plans to meet the leaders of the CIS countries in Moscow on January 25-26, his spokesman Alexander Gromov said. The meeting will be Putin's first international summit since taking the reins of power on New Year's Eve following Boris Yeltsin's surprise resignation. Alexander Lukashenko, Enomali Rakhmonov, President of Tajikistan and Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, have already spoken to Putin by telephone and confirmed their attendance, added Gromov. During the telephone conversation Putin and Lukashenko agreed that there was no need to change the relationship of the two countries. Lukashenko assured Putin that Belarus had been and would continue to be a reliable and loyal ally of Russia, especially at this extremely important period in the development of Russia's statehood. The last CIS summit chaired by Yeltsin in April ended in deadlock when the 12 presidents failed to reach an agreement on a joint statement on the conflict in Yugoslavia. Three member states, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan, pulled out of the CIS joint security pact, which now links only six countries. (Interfax, January 4)

VISA REQUIREMENTS INTRODUCED IN BULGARIA FOR HIGH-RISK CIS REPUBLICS
On January 1, Bulgaria introduced visa requirements for the citizens of seven former Soviet republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, BTA reported. The visa requirements are introduced in pursuance to a government decision of February 18, 1999, whereby visa regimes become valid for 17 of the 24 countries listed by the European Union as "high-risk countries." (BTA, December 30)

LITHUANIA'S BALTIC WAVES REACH MINSK
Lithuanian parliamentarian Rimantas Pleikys, coordinator of Baltic Waves Radio, voiced satisfaction with the first working day of the non-governmental radio station. "Our expectations have been totally justified," Pleikys told BNS on January 5, "The broadcasts can be heard very well." According to him, the broadcasts can be heard in almost the entire central and eastern parts of Lithuania, as well as in a large part of western Belarus. The Baltic Waves Radio was established by a non-governmental organization and started broadcasting on January 1, now relaying a half-hour-long Belarusian-language program from Poland. A broadcast of Radio Free Europe from Prague and ten-minute news in Belarusian by the Lithuanian national radio should be added in the second half of this month, while in February the program is to be reinforced with a broadcast from the Bialystok-based Racija radio station. Pleikys hopes that a half-hour program will be started in Vilnius in March, which should grow to an hour-long broadcast in the future. The Belarusian authorities have voiced repeated discontent with the broadcast from Lithuania. Baltic Waves Radio is supported by Western foundations, which promote freedom and democracy. (Baltic News Service, January 5)

-AT HOME IN BELARUS-

LUKASHENKO TOO WEAK ON ANTI-SEMITISM, JEWS SAY
On January 5, the Association of Belarusian Jews accused Alexander Lukashenko of not doing enough to crack down on anti-Semitism and criticized Israel for letting him visit Jerusalem this week. "Everything possible is being done to prevent a rebirth of the Jewish identity in Belarus," the Association said in a statement handed out at a press conference. In Particular, the statement cited vandalism of Jewish graves in cemeteries and fires set in synagogues and asserted that "such acts have the tacit approval of the country's leadership. "Not once have the Belarus authorities condemned the rising tide of anti-Semitism" in the country, the group said. Israel's decision to let Lukashenko visit there later this week to take part in Orthodox Christian celebrations "is hard to understand," given the plight of Jews in Belarus, the head of the association, Yakov Gutman, said. Belarus was a key Jewish cultural center at the turn of the century. Several top Israeli officials, including the late Prime Minister Golda Meir and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, have family links in Belarus. (Agence France Presse, January 5)

LUKASHENKO STRESSES ALLIANCE WITH RUSSIA IN NEW YEAR ADDRESS
"The union with Russia is a historic necessity which our peoples have suffered for. This is not a political ploy but a strong hope for the further economic and spiritual development of the two states and peoples. We will step firmly along this road," Lukashenko said in his New Year's address to the Belarusians. He also thanked Boris Yeltsin for his "complete mutual understanding and support." The Belarusian leader described the resignation of the Russian president as "a step of a courageous man" and "a personal loss." (BBC, January 6)

PRIME MINISTER SEES BENEFITS FROM YELTSIN'S RESIGNATION
On January 3, Sergei Ling, the Belarusian Prime Minister, said that Yeltsin's resignation as Russian president could accelerate economic integration between the two Slav neighbors. Ling told the Belarusian Parliament that Russia's acting president, Vladimir Putin, could boost relations between the two former Soviet republics because he is healthier than Yeltsin. "Taking into account Putin's health and energy, the very fact of his leadership of Russia will have a positive impact on our integration," Ling said. "Over the last year, sessions of the Supreme Council [grouping the Russian and Belarusian leaders] could not be held, not because they [Russia] do not need us, but because Yeltsin was physically unable to preside at them." (Reuters, January 4)

BELARUS INVITES RUSSIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS BACK
Russian nuclear weapons might be stationed on Belarusian territory should a conflict situation arise, a high-level Belarus military officer told a news conference Tuesday. "Nuclear weapons do not have borders," Yuri Portnov, Belarusian deputy Defense Minister said. He added that the Belarusian territory might be used for stationing Russian missiles should NATO "move nuclear weapons too close to our borders." Officials in Minsk and Moscow had earlier expressed fear that the new NATO members Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic might deploy NATO nuclear weapons on their territories. Belarus has claimed non-nuclear status since handing over its nuclear missiles to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Portnov said that unfortunately "Belarus could not provide for its security alone. Military cooperation with Russia is a priority for us," he added. The Belarusian army would be merged with the Russian military in case of a major security threat, Portnov noted. The Belarusian government under Lukashenko has on numerous occasions publicly declared their support for the re-deployment of nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, although the Russian authorities have continually denied their intention to do so. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, January 4)

…AND ALLOCATES $2M FOR BORDER TROOPS HELICOPTER SQUADRON
Belarus has allotted $2 million to maintain the combat readiness of helicopters of the Belarusian Border Troops Special Air Squadron, which is based in Pastavy (Vitebsk region), Lt-Gen Alexander Pavlovski, chairman of the Belarusian State Committee for Border Troops, told the committee Collegium. The squadron was formed in 1993 on the basis of a Belarusian armed forces military unit that was deployed at a former civil airfield. The squadron is equipped with Mi-8 helicopters. (Belapan, January 5)

-INTERNATIONAL NEWS-

US LIFTS Y2K TRAVEL WARNING
On January 6, the United States lifted its Y2K-related travel warnings for Russia, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine after authorities reported no millennium computer incidents there over the last week. The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it had cancelled warnings for the four countries that were originally issued on October, 29 1999. In addition to lifting the warning, the Department announced the end of a voluntary departure program that some 350 diplomats and dependents of US embassy and consulate personnel from the four countries had taken advantage of. Under the program, non-essential personnel and diplomatic families had been allowed to leave their posts until the extent of Y2K-related disruptions became clear. The four countries had all been determined to be less well-prepared for the millennium bug than other nations and therefore at higher risk for disruption of essential services such as water and power. (Agence France Presse, January 7)

-CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS-
March 22 - Democratic Trade Unions to stage nationwide protest.

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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 New York-based human rights NGO in consultative status with the United Nations and ILO.

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.

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