INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 3, No. 3
January 2000

IN THIS ISSUE:

- HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS -

OPPOSITION LEADER FORMS GOVERNMENT IN EXILE
On January 10, Semyon Sharetski, chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet and opposition-appointed Acting President of Belarus, announced that he is currently in the process of forming a government-in-exile in Lithuania. "We are not standing idle and are moving forward," Sharetski said at a briefing in Vilnius. "We have already appointed a Prosecutor-General who has launched a case regarding the illegal seizure of power in Belarus," he added. The opposition is going to intensify its activities in the future in order "not only to show the illegality of the Lukashenko regime, but to get rid of it," stressed Sharetski. He hailed the January 3 launch of a new independent Belarusian-language radio station broadcasting into Belarus from Lithuania, explaining that it would be of great importance to their fight. The Baltic Wave radio station, funded by Western foundations, broadcasts news reports to provide Belarusians with information independent from the Lukashenko-controlled media. (Agence France Presse, January 10)

OPPOSITION SLAM AUTHORITIES FOR HALTING TALKS
On January 11, the Coordinating Council of the Congress of Democratic Forces held a session in Minsk to discuss the conditions for the opposition's participation in this year's parliamentary elections and preparation of mass protests in the spring. Vintsuk Vyachorka, the leader of the Belarusian Popular Front who chaired the meeting, told reporters in Minsk that the opposition will not take part in the "election farce" if its proposals are not included in the Electoral Code and if the authorities do not stop politically-motivated persecutions. He accused the Lukashenko regime of halting the government-opposition negotiation process. In a letter to the authorities, the Council expressed concern that the Belarusian government has failed to honor the agreement on the opposition's access to the public media, as well as to appoint a new head of the government's delegation to talks with the opposition. The authorities had promised to introduce a new leader of the government delegation at the talks with the opposition by January 11, to replace Lukashenko's aide Mikhail Sazonov, who was dismissed more than a month ago. However, a new head has yet to be appointed. Vyachorka has reaffirmed the opposition's readiness to look for a negotiated solution to the current constitutional crisis in the country. (Belapan, January 12)

…AND SETS KEY DEMANDS FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION CAMPAIGN
The Coordinating Council of the Congress of Democratic Forces has prepared a list of political issues for negotiations with the government. Stanislav Bogdankevich, leader of the United Civic Party, handed the list to Hans-Georg Wieck, head of the OSCE AMG in Belarus, asking him to inform the government about the opposition's proposals. The list consists of two sections -- one deals with the powers of parliament and the other with the election process. The first section stipulates that parliament should be the sole legislative branch in the country, have the authority to control the observance of law, participate in the formation of the Cabinet, and control the public purse. The Council suggested a return to a unicameral parliament. If the opposition and the government agree on a bicameral parliament, both chambers should be elected directly, says the Council's document. The opposition also wants the government to guarantee free and fair access to the electronic and print media. A public council may be set up to ensure media access. Other clauses of the document call for the formation of election commissions independent of the government and the prevention of discrimination against political parties. The opposition believes that the conditions mentioned in the list would guarantee the recognition of the election both in Belarus and abroad. (Belapan, January 11)

"OPPOSITION DOES NOT WANT TO COOPERATE"?
On January 8, in an interview to the Belarusian TV, Nikolai Lazovik, a deputy of the National Assembly, Lukashenko hand-picked parliament, accused the opposition of unwillingness to cooperate during the preparation of the electoral legislation. "We did not feel that we had some sort of opposition in our republic. They just intentionally ignored that process," Lazovik said. "I think that the reason is clear: If a democratic electoral legislation is worked out in Belarus, if we have free and democratic elections of the parliament and president, the opposition will lose all its trump cards and win nothing," he added. (BBC, January 11)

WIECK AND KRASUTCKI MEET TO DICUSS ELECTORAL CODE
On January 12, Hans-Georg Wieck met with Anatoly Krasutski, the chairman of the Committee on State Building, Local Self-government and Regulations of the National Assembly, the BELTA news agency reported. Krasutski informed Ambassador Wieck about the development of the Electoral Code, on the basis of which the ruling regime plans to hold elections to the National Assembly this year, and presidential elections next year. On January 24, the Electoral Code draft is expected to be reviewed by the House of Representatives in the second reading. (Belarusian Association of Journalists, January 13)

DEPUTIES ATTEND SESSION OF OSCE PA STANDING COMMITTEE
Ambassador Wieck, Semyon Sharetski, and Anatoly Lebedko, chairman of the Commission for International Affairs of the 13th Supreme Soviet, and deputies Vladimir Nistuk and Viktor Khomich left for Vienna to attend a session of the Standing Committee of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly scheduled for January 13-14. The agenda of the session includes a report of Adrian Severin on the work of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ad Hoc Working Group on Belarus. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly gathers over 300 parliamentarians from 54 member states. Belarus is currently represented in the Assembly by the 13th Supreme Soviet, which the organization regards as the only legitimate legislature in the country. The Belarusian delegation intends not only to explain the situation in Belarus, but also to propose some specific solutions to Belarus' current constitutional crisis. In an interview to Radio 101.2, Anatoly Lebedko outlined them as follows: if Lukashenko refuses to comply with the agreement on the opposition's access to the state mass media already signed, if he refuses to conduct a real negotiating process, deputies of the 13th Supreme Soviet will appeal to the OSCE and other influential international organizations, urging them not to recognize Lukashenko-staged parliamentary elections as legitimate and democratic. (Belapan- Radio 101.2, January 12)

EX-MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS
On January 14, the Belarusian Supreme Court sentenced Vasily Leonov, a former Minister of Agriculture, to four years in prison with confiscation of property. He was found guilty of bribery and abuse of power. The 61-year-old ex-minister has been held in jail since November 11, 1997, and will serve the remainder of his term in a high-security prison camp. Lukashenko personally oversaw the investigation. He and Leonov were once close friends when they worked together in the Mogilev region, when Leonov was the first secretary of the regional Communist Party committee and Lukashenko the director of a collective farm. Leonov did not plead guilty. He told reporters after the trial that his only fault was to stand in the way of the current rulers of Belarus. On January 11, in his final plea in the Supreme Court, Leonov said that he did not expect the judgment to be impartial and fair. "I feel sorry for you, because you have been chosen to make an illegal decision and convict me. I am not guilty of what I am charged with," he said. Public defenders Boris Zvozkov and Svetlana Vlasova, Leonov's daughter, believe that none of the elements of his criminal case have been established. (Belapan, January 11-14)

OPPOSITION ACTIVIST TO LEARN HIS SENTENCE SOON
The court hearings of the case of Evgeny Osinski, one of the participants in the July 27, 1999 opposition protest in Minsk are expected to come to a close on January 18. He is charged with malicious hooliganism and active participation in collective actions violating public order. At the January 13 hearings, the prosecutor requested a two year suspended sentence with compulsory labor. The defendant's lawyer, Natalya Tarasyuk believes that there is not sufficient evidence for a conviction. She mentioned that upon his arrest Osinski was brutally beaten by the law-enforcement officers. At the same time, the policeman, whom Osinski attacked, received no injuries and did not even asked for medical assistance. The lawyer suggested that the sentence be changed to the milder one - "threatening or assaulting a policeman," entailing involuntary labor at his present work place. (Charter 97, January 14)

CHARGES AGAINST OPPOSITION ACTIVIST DISMISSED
On January 10, the Sovetsky District Court in Minsk dismissed a minor civil offense charge against Valery Shchukin, a deputy of the13th Supreme Soviet. Shchukin was accused of organizing an unsanctioned demonstration in Minsk on December 8, 1999, protesting against the signing of a new Russia-Belarus Union Treaty. Shchukin told the court that he attended the protest as a reporter for the Narodnaya Volya independent newspaper. Witnesses for the prosecution, including police officers, gave contradictory testimony while Narodnaya Volya editorial staff members confirmed that Shchukin had been on assignment. Luckily, the paper published Shchukin's report about the demonstration on December 11. Judge Inna Sheiko found that there had not been any elements of an offense in Shchukin's actions. (Belapan, January 10)

WIFE OF DISAPPEARED OPPOSITION LEADER FILES COMPLAINT WITH UN
On January 11, Zinaida Gonchar, wife of Viktor Gonchar, deputy chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet who disappeared on September 16, filed a complaint with the UN Working Committee on Involuntary Disappearances. Thus far, Gonchar's wife and son haven't receive any concrete information from the Belarusian police on the progress of their investigation. Meanwhile, officials and the state-controlled media have continued to claim that Gonchar was never abducted but instead fled the country. The alternative investigation group, initiated by Gonchar's relatives, have determined that the Belarusian Secret Service was involved in his disappearance. Zinaida Gonchar decided to ask the UN Committee on Involuntary Disappearances to exert pressure on the official investigators and force them to reveal their findings. (Charter 97, January 13)

INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON DISAPPEARANCES ESTABLISHED IN BELARUS
The International Commission for Political Prisoners, Disappearances, and Murders has been established in Belarus at the initiative of public organizations and individuals. The main aim of the newly-established body is "to prevent the most dangerous scenarios which result from the ruling regime's use of repressive-terrorist methods against the Belarusian people." On the basis of current plans, the branches of the Commission will operate in Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw, Vienna, and Vilnius. The structure will be financed by its founders. During the last year and a half three prominent members of the political opposition have disappeared in Belarus under mysterious circumstances - Victor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky, and Yury Zakharenko. (Segodnya, January 13)

RELATIVES OF VICTIMS OF LUKASHENKO REGIME, UNITE!
Arina Vyachorka, Tatyana Klimova-Leonovich, Galina Sivchik, and Lubov Schukina, wives of the opponents of the Lukashenko regime, plan to set up a civic NGO, which would unite wives and mothers of Belarusian political prisoners. At present, such organization could already comprise over forty women. These women decided to create such an organization after addressing the Russian Duma with an open letter protesting against the Russia-Belarus unification. "The number of political prisoners keeps growing. We, relatives of the victims of the Lukashenko regime, should unite and assist each other in overcoming our common sorrows," organizers told journalists in Minsk on January 10. (Charter 97, January 11)

GOMEL AUTHORITIES RESTRICT ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Local authorities in Gomel have adopted a new procedure for providing official information to the mass media. The new provisions limit the circle of officials who are allowed to talk to reporters to the Chairman of the City Council, his/her deputies, and the heads of several departments. (Belarusian Association of Journalists, January11)

OPPOSITION ACTIVIST SUES PRO-LUKASHENKO TV REPORTER FOR DEFAMATION
On February 9, the Pervomaisky District Court in Minsk will hear a defamation suit filed by a pensioner Vera Terlyukevich against Alexander Zimovsky, the host of the Resonance, Belarusian television analytical program. Terlyukevich feels offended by the way Zimovsky commented on the opposition-organized Freedom March demonstration staged in Minsk on October 17, in which she participated. In his program Zimovsky called the demonstrators "a bunch of dumbheads." "I took part in the event myself," wrote Terlyukevich in her statement, "because Belarusian citizens do not have access to the public media to discuss a draft of the Russia-Belarus Union treaty." Terlyukevich demands 3 million BRB in damages. Back in October, the district court rejected Terlyukevich's suit, but had its decision reversed by the Minsk City Court. On January 11, Judge Leonid Yasenovich requested video evidence from the Belarusian National Television and Radio Company and issued a summons for Zimovsky. (Belapan, January 11)

JEWISH ORGANIZATION TO SUE PUBLISHER OF ANTI-SEMITIC BOOK
Leonid Levin, leader of Belarus's Jewish community, is going to sue the Orthodox Initiative Publishing House for "fomenting ethnic hatred." The publishing house has recently published a book entitled "The War According to the Laws of Meanness," which consists of anti-Semitic articles published in the Russian and Belarusian press in the 1990s as well as in the pre-1917 Russia. The editors of the book appealed to readers to support Alexander Lukashenko, whom they call a "defender of all Slavs." (RFE/RL, January 10)

AUTHORITIES BAN ANTI-RACIST SOCCER MATCH
The Borisov City Council banned Football Without Racism, a mini-football tournament, organized by the Malady Front and the Belarusian Language Society. Right before the match, the director of a school where the tournament was to take place, called organizers to tell them that the match could not take place due to a power failure. (Viasna96, January 12)

WHITE-RED-WHITE FLAG APPEARS IN THE CENTER OF VITEBSK
Early on the morning of January 12, an unidentified opposition activist known as Myron hung out a white-red-white flag on a steel wire stretched between two buildings in the center of Vitebsk. The flag stayed up for several hours before the authorities managed to take it down. A message attached to the flag said, "Moscow invaders - get out of Belarus!," Boris Khamaida, editor of the Choice opposition newspaper and well-known opposition activist from Vitebsk, told Belapan. The historically national white-red-white flag was used as the Belarusian state flag in the period between the breakup of the USSR and the ascendance of Lukashenko. A referendum initiated by Lukashenko in 1995 resulted in the introduction of Soviet-style state symbols to replace the historic ones, and the white-red-white flag became a symbol of opposition to the Lukashenko government and a symbol of street protests in the country. A public display of the flag may entail a sizable fine or several days in jail. (Belapan, January 12)

MARKET VENDORS TO STAGE NATION-WIDE PROTEST
A national conference of representatives of outdoor market vendors from all regions in Belarus
decided on January 10 that vendors would go on strike on February 1 to press the government to address their demands. Valery Levonevsky, a member of the Council of the Free Trade Union of Entrepreneurs, has told Belapan that the protestors demand that the government cancel a 20-percent VAT for those vendors who pay a fixed tax; annul regulations requiring vendors to certify goods; set the fixed tax at the December 1999 level; declare a moratorium on increases in the fixed tax; simplify the accounting procedure; annul some presidential decrees; and take measures to prevent officials, police, and tax officers from extorting money from vendors. (Belapan, January 11)

TRADE UNION ACTIVIST ARRESTED
On January 12, the police detained Igor Namochenko, an activist of the Free Trade Union of Entrepreneurs, who, while giving out the union's bulletin called Predprinimatel [The Entrepreneur], was calling on vendors to participate in a strike scheduled for February 1. The law-enforcement officials believe that a criminal, whose picture was printed in the bulletin with the words "I won't forget the New Year" tattooed on his chest, resembled Lukashenko. The police seized all copies of the bulletin and summoned Namochenko to appear in the Sovetsky District court in Minsk on January 14. Namochenko was subsequently released. (Belapan, January 13)

--AT HOME IN BELARUS--

NEW DEFENSE MINISTER
Alexander Chumakov, the Belarusian Defense Minister, suddenly gave his notice, citing poor health. For the time being, his duties are being carried out by the Chief of the General Staff Mikhail Kozlov. Reliable and well-informed sources suspect that Chumakov's "illness" is attributed to the sudden inspection of the Defense Ministry which the military intelligence directorate of the KGB is conducting on orders from the Belarusian Security Council. The Presidential Administration is discussing possible replacements. Interior Minister Yuri Sivakov, presidential advisor Viktor Kuchinsky, and Kozlov are among the possible candidates. (Segodnya, January 11)

LUKASHENKO'S DEPUTIES DISCONTENT WITH ARMS CONFISCATION
On January 12, members of the House of Representatives expressed discontent with the fact that the authorities are confiscating registered firearms from citizens. The Law on Arms has not been passed, even in the first reading, and the Constitution guarantees the right to property. A government representative failed to explain to the deputies why this is happening. The Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs declined to comment on this situation. (BAJ, January 13)

LUKASHENKO WANTS WARMER TIES WITH U.S.
On January 13, Alexander Lukashenko hosted a traditional reception for the diplomatic corps on the occasion of Christmas and New Year. During the reception he told foreign diplomats that the "steps undertaken by Belarus to improve relations with the United States should receive understanding and positive reaction," Itar-Tass reported. "We are ready for a dialogue with the U.S. on a whole range of problems," Lukashenko added. He assured diplomats that his country is open for cooperation with all countries on the principles of partnership and mutual respect and wants to "enhance the traditionally good contacts with Asia, Africa, and Latin America." (Itar-Tass, January 13)

-- BROTHER SLAVS--

UNION, WHAT UNION?
Lukashenko's conciliatory tone at the January 13 diplomatic reception followed what some Belarusian officials see as a slowdown in the Belarusian-Russian rapprochement after Vladimir Putin's takeover at the Kremlin. "Everything which was agreed with Yeltsin has been frozen," Valery Drako, a parliamentary deputy and an aide to Prime Minister Sergei Ling, told Reuters, "it's difficult to say how relations will be even two months from now." Drako added that the session of the Russia-Belarus Parliamentary Assembly scheduled for January 14 has been postponed indefinitely. Belarusian officials even at the time of the signing of the merger pact in early December said that the lavish Kremlin ceremony belied the largely symbolic nature of the deal, which provided for a gradual integration in phases over the course of five to eight years. Belarusian officials also said Moscow had declared the possibility of holding elections to form the first fully unified Russian-Belarusian parliament to be unrealistic before 2001, although they had earlier been seen taking place in the first half of this year. Opponents of the integration on both sides of the border fear Lukashenko could gain entry into Russian politics through the merger. "The ambitious plans of the Napoleon from Shklov (Lukashenko's hometown) have collapsed. He has been stripped of his hopes for a kingdom," the Narodnaya Volya, Belarusian opposition newspaper wrote. (Reuters, January 14)

PUTIN APPOINTS SCANDAL-TAINTED KREMLIN AIDE SECRETARY OF UNION
On January 10, Vladimir Putin, Russia's acting President, appointed Pavel Borodin, the Kremlin property manager tainted by the Mabetex corruption scandal, the secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union, a post whose significance is not yet clear. Swiss and Russian investigators are probing allegations, as yet unproven, that Borodin and other senior presidential aides took bribes to secure lucrative Kremlin refurbishment contracts for Swiss construction firm Mabetex. Borodin's name has also featured in a list of senior Russian officials being investigated by US and British law enforcement officials probing a suspected 15 billion-dollar money-laundering scandal. The outgoing Kremlin property chief has consistently denied any wrongdoing, branding the charges against him "gibberish" and "political games." On January 12, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, which is owned by Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky, suggested that Borodin's proposed appointment as state secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union - so far unconfirmed by Lukashenko - may be a sign that Yeltsin would become chairman of the Higher Council governing the union. The theory is based on the vague Russia-Belarus treaty, according to which the chairman of the Higher Council should be one of the presidents of the two countries. It was unclear whether the chairman must be a member of the council, whose other members are the prime ministers and speakers of parliament. Nezavisimaya Gazeta has a history of spinning thinly substantiated political theories in an attempt to sample the elite's reaction to some scenarios worked out by Berezovsky or other power brokers. (Agence France Presse, January 10; Nezavisimaya Gazeta, January 12)

POLAND TO DEMAND VISAS FROM 15 COUNTRIES
On January 11, the Polish government authorized its Foreign Ministry to introduce visa requirements for fifteen countries in the next few years in order to harmonize its visa policies to those of the European Union. The countries which will be affected are Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Cuba and Mongolia. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, January 11)

-CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS-

March 22 - Democratic Trade Unions to stage nationwide protest.
February 1- Free Trade Union of Entrepreneurs to stage nationwide protest.
February 14 - Malady Front to stage action of protest "Belarus into Europe!"

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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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