INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 3, No. 6
February 2000

IN THIS ISSUE:

-- HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS --

MEMBERS OF THE 13TH SUPREME SOVIET IN WASHINGTON DC
Semyon Sharetski, chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet and opposition-appointed Acting President of Belarus, and Liudmila Gryaznova, a deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet, traveled to Washington DC from February 1 - 8 for several meetings with U.S. Congressmen and State Department officials. During meetings with Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Harold Hoh, and Congressman Steny Hoyer, Sharetski and Gryaznova were joined by Stanislav Shushkevich, former head of state of Belarus. Sharetski also met separately with Mark Medish, Director of Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council, House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, and Senator Christopher Smith. In these meetings, the opposition leaders voiced their concerns over threats to Belarusian sovereignty, and also urged U.S. officials not to support parliamentary elections in Belarus until the opposition was given access to the state-controlled media, political prisoners were released, and the Electoral Code was amended. (ILHR, February 8)

TALBOTT MEETS WITH SUPREME SOVIET DEPUTIES
Following the February 3 meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, the State Department issued the following statement: "Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott met yesterday with Semyon Sharetski, chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet, as well as with Supreme Soviet deputies former Belarusian President Stanislav Shushkevich and Ludmila Gryaznova. The 13th Supreme Soviet is the democratically elected Parliament of Belarus, which the Lukashenko regime illegally disbanded in 1996 and replaced with a rubber-stamp body. The United States, Western and Central European democracies, and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly continue to recognize the 13th Supreme Soviet as the legal Belarusian Parliament.

They discussed the Russian-Belarusian Union and its possible implications for the future of Belarus. The Deputy Secretary reaffirmed U.S. support for democracy, which the independent Belarusian nation chose in 1991. The Deputy Secretary encouraged these Belarusian officials and all democrats in that country to continue working with the international community on behalf of a democratic and independent Belarus." (US Department of State, February 4)

COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF PARLIAMENTARIANS CONSIDERS BELARUS
On January 23-27, the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians held its 88th session in Geneva. Referring to the cases of Victor Gonchar, Andrei Klimov, Vladimir Koudinov, and Valery Shchukin, all members of the 13th Supreme Soviet, the Committee expressed deep concern at the lack of findings in the investigation into Gonchar's disappearance and urged the authorities to make every effort to establish his whereabouts. Commenting on the Belarusian authorities' intention to shorten Vladimir Koudinov's sentence, the Committee members were nevertheless alarmed at the serious allegation of ill-treatment of Andrei Klimov and urged the authorities to conduct impartial and independent investigations into the incident. The Committee also urged the authorities to release Klimov pending trial and ensure that he receives a fair and open trial, pointing out that non-admission of defense witnesses or crucial evidence may constitute an infringement on Klimov's right to defend himself. The Committee members were also appalled at the many instances in which Valery Shchukin has been arrested, detained and fined and regretted that the Belarusian authorities had failed to explain Shchukin's complaints about police misconduct. The Committee urged the authorities to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into this complaint. The Committee decided to consider the situation in Belarus again at its next session to be held in conjunction with the 103rd Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in April-May, 2000. (Charter 97, February 3)

THREE YEARS IN JAIL
On February 2, Vladimir Koudinov's wife Zoya told Belapan that her husband has turned down several proposals by the administration of the Minsk High Security Correctional Institution to write an appeal for pardon to Lukashenko. Koudinov was one of the Supreme Soviet members who signed an impeachment motion against Lukashenko in 1996. Soon afterward, he was charged with bribing a police officer and sentenced to 7 years in prison. The term was recently shortened by a year as a result of a nationwide amnesty. February 4 marked the third year since Koudinov's arrest. (Belapan, February 3)

OSCE CONCERNED ABOUT ALLEGED HARASSMENT OF BELARUSIAN WRITER
Freimut Duve, the Representative of Freedom of Media at the OSCE, sent a letter to Belarusian Foreign Minister Ural Latypov, regarding Vasil Bykov, a Belarusian writer who has recently returned to Minsk from Finland. According to an OSCE press release issued on January 28, Duve raised a series of questions related to an alleged campaign of harassment against Bykov and asked the minister to look into his case. The following is the text of the release:

"The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Freimut Duve, wrote to Ural Latypov, Belarusian Foreign Minister, raising his concern with the alleged campaign of harassment initiated against the famous Belarusian writer, Vasil Bykov, who recently returned to Minsk. Duve informed the Minister that he learned from the Moscow daily newspaper Izvestia of this campaign. Duve asked Minister Latypov a number of questions:

-- Was the campaign against Bykov led by Vladimir Sevryk, who has been described by Izvestia and many knowledgeable Russian journalists as a former leading Soviet hard-line communist journalist?
-- Had Sevryk been attacking Vasil Bykov for almost 35 years?
-- Was it true that the Belarus State Television selected Bykov as a target of a campaign of harassment and was it also true that Vasil Bykov was a leading proponent of perestroika and glasnost in the late 1980s and that Vladimir Sevryk tried to suppress this policy?
-- Izvestia informed its readers that currently Sevryk is in the employment of the Belarus government. Is this correct?

Duve asked Minister Latypov to look into this case and, hopefully, counter the allegations made by Bykov in his interview with Izvestia on January 26, where Bykov noted: "Today in Belarus, we have favorable conditions for the return of the ideology that dominated during the Soviet times." (Belapan, January 31)

OSCE STILL HOPES FOR DIALOGUE
Amb. Hans Georg Wieck, head of the OSCE AMG in Belarus, has proposed that Belarusian opposition parties hold an "informal meeting" with representatives of the authorities. Quoting Foreign Minister Ural Latypov, Wieck said that the government delegation for talks with the opposition has not been dissolved, even though Mikhail Sazonov, Lukashenko's aide and head of the coordinating group for promoting a nationwide dialogue in society, resigned and the government did not fulfill an agreement on the opposition's access to state-controlled media. In mid-January, Ivan Pashkevich, Lukashenko's deputy chief of staff, told Reuters that the Belarusian leader has no intention of opening a discussion with his opponents and added they should abide by the existing or pending electoral laws. (See Belarus Update Vol.3, No.4). (Belapan, February 2)

NEW ELECTORAL LAW APPROVED BY LUKASHENKO PARLIAMENT
On January 31, the Council of the Republic, the Upper House of the Belarusian Parliament, whose members were appointed by Alexander Lukashenko, adopted a new election law. The Belarusian authorities failed to include key OSCE proposals, including some proportional voting by party lists, re-balancing the powers of the parliament and the president, and including opposition representatives on regional election commissions. Accusing the opposition of refusing to negotiate with the government, Sergei Martynov, Belarusian deputy Foreign Minister, said the same day that the government is ready to hold free and democratic parliamentary elections under the new code. (Belapan, January 31)

OPPOSITION WILL BOYCOTT ELECTIONS UNDER NEW ELECTORAL CODE
On January 29-30, experts in electoral law from Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Belarusian opposition leaders, and members of the Lower House of the Belarusian parliament met at the International Educational Center in Minsk to discuss electoral practices in Eastern Europe and republics of the former USSR. The forum was organized by the Belarusian Center for Constitutionalism and Comparative Law Research with the support of the US-based National Endowment for Democracy. Opening the conference Michel Rivollier, counselor of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus, reaffirmed the OSCE's readiness to assist in the government-opposition dialogue.

Speaking at the conference, Professor Mikhail Pastukhov, a former justice of the Belarusian Constitutional Court and the current head of the Center for the Support of the Media at the Belarusian Association of Journalists, said that if the Electoral Code is enacted in its present form, opposition political parties will not participate in the parliamentary election that is to be held later this year. Pastukhov sharply criticized the code, which was drafted under Lukashenko's personal supervision. He said that the preservation of first-past-the-post constituency voting as the only method of elections would allow for fraudulent results and would give the incumbent government the opportunity to ensure parliamentary seats for its proteges. Among other flaws of the new law Pastukhov has mentioned were unjustifiably strict regulations regarding nomination, severe restrictions on financial support of campaigns, the preservation of voter turnout thresholds, and extremely loose control over early voting and voting at home. Pastukhov suggested that the government and the opposition return to negotiations table and revise the code. (Belapan, January 29)

FOREIGNERS UNWELCOME?
On January 31, Vladimir Konoplyov, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Belarusian Parliament, said that he considers the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe not to resume Belarus' special guest status is a sign of double standards. According to Konoplyov, "missions of some international organizations operating in Belarus don't describe objectively the situation in the country, which is seen as rather calm and favorable by more than 57 percent of Belarusian citizens." Alexander Shpilevski, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives' Committee on International Affairs and Relations with CIS Countries, went even further and proposed that a special parliamentary hearing be held to decide if the international missions should remain in Belarus. In his opinion, the missions "destabilize the situation" and misinform their organizations about the situation in the country. On February 3, Nikolai Borisevich, spokesman of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Minsk that this comment was Shpilevski's "personal opinion, which had nothing to do with the line pursued by the Ministry for adequate and constructive cooperation with European organizations." (Itar-Tass, January 31 - Belapan, February 3)

ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS DEMANDS ACCESS TO CHIGIR'S TRIAL
The Belarusian Association of Journalists protested against the violation of the rights of journalists during Mikhail Chigir's trial. On February 1, the Association sent an open letter to the heads of Belarusian law-enforcement agencies, demanding "an open and public judicial process" as guaranteed by Chapter 114 of the Belarusian Constitution and Chapter 13 of the Belarusian Criminal Code. The letter says that on January 20 the police officers did not allow journalists in the courtroom. "Police officers pushed aside the journalists from the entrance of the building of the Minsk City court. No explanations were given," wrote the letter. The Association demanded that an investigation be carried out and called on the chairman of the Minsk City Court to ensure unobstructed access to the court proceedings. (Charter 97, February 2)

RECESS ANNOUNCED IN CHIGIR'S TRIAL
On January 31, Judge Alexander Vasilevich announced a break in the trial of Mikhail Chigir until Chigir's wife Julia, who is representing her husband, recovers from the flu. The judge gave additional time to Chigir's public defenders Gary Pogonyailo, deputy head of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, and Boris Gyunter, a representative of the Vyasna Human Rights Center, to study the case. Chigir, who faces charges of power abuse and criminal negligence, was arrested on March 30, 1999, during preparations for the opposition-staged presidential elections, in which he was a leading candidate. He spent eight months in jail before being released on November 30 on his written pledge not to flee. His supporters and human rights organizations believe that criminal charges were used by the authorities as a pretext to silence a prominent political opponent. Chigir says that the proceedings were instituted on the basis of evidence provided by the Belarusian Security Council. (Belapan, February 1)

FOUR FREEDOM MARCH PARTICIPANTS TO STAND TRIAL
Four participants in the opposition-organized Freedom March held in Minsk on October 17, 1999, are about to have their cases sent to court, the Viasna96 Human Rights Center reported. Criminal proceedings have been instituted against several opposition activists, including Nikolai Statkevich, leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, Herman Shushkevich, Andrei Volobuyev, Gleb Dogil, and Lazarev, all members of the Malady Front. They are charged with "organizing mass disorders" (see Belarus Update Vol.2, No. 43). Several days ago, the cases of Shushkevich, Dogel, Volobuyev, and Lazarev were separated from the others and they were charged additionally with malicious hooliganism. If found guilty, they face a sentence of up to 5 years in prison. Viasna96 believes that the authorities are using the trial to scare those who may be planning to take part in large-scale protests scheduled by the opposition for the coming spring. (Viasna96, February 1)

MARKET VENDORS PROTEST ECONOMIC POLICIES
On January 31- February 4, thousands of Belarusian marketplace and street vendors demonstrated over crushing taxes and bureaucracy in a protest that Alexander Lukashenko called an attempt to destabilize the country. The entrepreneurs, most of them vendors from local marketplaces, have demanded Lukashenko's resignation and said they plan to strike for a month or until steps are taken to reduce taxes, repeal value-added tax, and end bribe-extortion by tax and law-enforcement officials. Lukashenko has publicly admitted that a new tax regime introduced for 2000 was not working well but the local authorities have nevertheless threatened to remove the vendors from their market stalls if they continue their protest. "Those who gathered in the squares today, calling for a strike, are windbags trying to destabilize the situation in the country. As the president I cannot allow violent pressure to be used against the authorities," Belarus's state television quoted Lukashenko as saying. "Frankly, I am fed up with these strikes. Not a single normal entrepreneur would ever get involved in politics," he reportedly added. Lukashenko also said that he could introduce a state system to replace private retail business. "They (private vendors) buy goods cheaply abroad and then re-sell them at inflated prices here," Lukashenko said. "The state can do the same thing in its own interests." Farmer's markets and street vendors in Belarus, as in most of the former Soviet Union, sell some of the cheapest food and household staples. According to the Belarusian leader, he has told Viktor Sheiman, Secretary of the Belarusian State Security Council, to find wholesalers who will supply the market with goods.

Entrepreneurs have demonstrated their strength and made the entire country listen to their problems, Valery Levonevsky, the leader of the strike committee, told Belapan. He added that more than 90,000 private retailers throughout the country were on strike on February 1-2. "Lukashenko's threat to remove striking entrepreneurs from the markets is indicative of the authorities' increased fear," Levonevsky added. He dismissed as "pure bluff" the Belarusian leader's promise to find wholesalers who would supply the markets with goods at low prices. "Of course, the government can send a couple of military transport planes to Turkey, but they lack money to supply the markets with goods regularly. Nobody abroad needs Belarusian rubles. I very much doubt that the government will be able to sell goods cheaper than we do. To keep prices down, 99.9 percent of entrepreneurs have to bribe customs officials," Levonevsky said. (Belapan, January 31- Reuters, February 3)

BELARUSIANS PROTEST AGAINST CHECHEN WAR
On February 3, about twenty demonstrators held an unsanctioned meeting near the Russian Embassy in Minsk to protest against Russia's war in Chechnya. The demonstrators condemned the Russia's policy in the Caucasus and said that thousands of victims in the Chechen war were too high a price for the popularity of Vladimir Putin, Russia's Acting President. After the police forced the protesters to leave the place, they formed a column, which headed for the Palace of Sports. Six protesters were arrested by the police. Yegor Mayorchik, a correspondent of RFE, and another demonstrator were released shortly. Four other detainees stood trial the same day and received warnings. Another anti-war picket, which was sanctioned by the Minsk City Council, was held at the Bangalore Square in Minsk. The pickets were organized by the Belarusian Committee against the war in Chechnya, the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, the BPF Adradzhenne [former Belarusian Popular Front], United Civic Party, and Chyrvony Zhond, an organization of Belarusian anarchists. (Belapan- Charter 97, February 3)

MALADY FRONT ACTIVIST ARRESTED IN GRODNO
On February 2, Malady Front activists in Grodno marked the 162nd anniversary of birth of Belarusian national hero Kastus' Kalinovsky by holding an unsanctioned picket in the center of the city. One protester was arrested by the police. (Charter 97, February 3)

BELARUSIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERS SPOTLIGHT ABUSES
Ten Belarusian lawyers who represent dissidents and victims of the Lukashenko regime called attention to government abuses as they met with U.S. government officials, labor leaders and attorneys during an American Bar Association sponsored visit to Chicago from January 23-30. The lawyers charged that the government threatens civil liberties by various means, such as denying independent trade unions legal registration status. The work of the visiting Belarusian lawyers ranges from representing disappeared political dissidents, to organizing independent trade unions, to defending media and representing private organizations in disputes with the Lukashenko government. The lawyers went to Chicago after a similar visit to Washington D.C. (See Belarus Update Vol.3, No. 4). During the Chicago visit they met with U.S. Rep. Louis Guttierez, faculty and students at Chicago Kent College of law, Legal Assistance Foundation officials and American bar Association lawyers, labor representatives, Illinois court officials, and Leslie Landis, the city's representative on women's issues. (PRNewswire, January 25)

WOMEN'S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE CONSIDERS REPORT OF BELARUS
On January 31- February 1, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women met to consider the third periodic report of Belarus (document CEDAW/C/BLR/3). According to the report, despite the constitutional proclamation of equality between men and women, there is a very significant and ever-increasing gap between declared principles and their de facto implementation. This is confirmed by the problems faced by women in every aspect of their lives: inequality in daily life; employment; remuneration and fulfillment of maternal and child-rearing functions.

The report says that the situation of Belarusian women has deteriorated markedly during the country's transition to a market economy. They are among the most vulnerable social groups and face a serious unemployment problem. The economic crisis, disruption of economic and political ties, the transition to a market economy, shortages of consumer goods, inflation, the decline in real income and rising social tensions are having a very negative impact on women. With regard to women's role in politics, the report says that although they account for more than half the population, they have practically no opportunity to further their interests through elected bodies. The Supreme Soviet has 13 female deputies, or 3 per cent, only one of whom works on a permanent basis. With the abolition of Soviet-time quotas, the proportion of women in local councils of people's deputies has declined sharply. There is only one female Cabinet Minister and one woman among the country's international representatives.

The Committee experts commented on the report and put questions to the Belarusian delegation. Expressing concern about freedom of expression and opinion in Belarus, one expert pointed out that only in an open and responsible democratic system could women express their views and demand their rights. The Government contributed to the perpetuation of stereotypes by approaching gender policy as a welfare issue, while the Committee considered it to be a human rights issue. On January 28, Liudmila Gryaznova, a member of the organizing committee of Charter 97 presented a shadow report on the implementation of CEDAW by the Belarusian authorities to the Committee. (M2 Presswire, January 31, ILHR, January 28)

DEPUTY FACES DIFFICULTIES WITH OBTAINING NEW TRAVEL DOCUMENT
Anatoly Lebedko, chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet's Commission on Foreign Affairs and deputy chairman of the United Civil Party, is facing problems with traveling abroad. Lebedko is not allowed to leave the country because his travel document are not valid any more and the authorities are delaying their renewal. Generally, the procedure takes about 30 days, but in Lebedko's case it has already been six months since he applied for a new document. (Charter 97, February 1)

--AT HOME IN BELARUS --

BELARUS AIMS TO MEET IMF TERMS BY YEAR-END
Cash-short Belarus, criticized by the West for slow market reforms, will try to meet the conditions set by the IMF to get two important loans, Pyotr Prokopovich, head of the National Bank said on February 3. "A strategic task of signing loan agreements on two credits has been set and should be implemented by the end of the year," Prokopovich told a news conference. He said Belarus hoped to get a Contingency and Compensatory Fund Facility (CCFF) and a stand-by loan. Earlier he had said that Minsk might get a total of $150-250 million. CCFF loans are usually granted to countries which suffer from externalities, but the IMF, which suspended loans to Belarus in 1996 and recalled its representative in 1998, believes Belarus suffers from a lack of reforms. An IMF monitoring mission is due to arrive in Minsk in late February or early March. Bypassed by investors and suffering from lower exports to its main trading partner Russia, Belarus has pledged to bolster reforms. Prokopovich said, however, that the IMF might decline to grant loans even after the implementation of all its conditions, due to the West's general criticism of a lack of democracy and tough treatment of the opposition by the authorities. (Reuters, February 4)

-- BROTHER SLAVS --

BELARUS TO FORM JOINT ARMY WITH RUSSIA
On February 1, Lukashenko said that Belarus and Russia would form a military union to defend their western frontier from NATO. "A powerful military group is being established, which will include more than a hundred thousand people, and will be armed with the most modern weaponry," RIA quoted Lukashenko as saying. "The group will be the shield of our fatherland on the common western frontier," he told a delegation from Russia's Penza region. RIA also quoted him as saying that the purpose of the new defense force would be to counteract an expanding NATO alliance. Russia and Belarus have pledged to form a union state, complete with a joint cabinet and parliament, that would link their economies and legal systems, but the precise powers of the new entity have remained amorphous. There has been little talk of uniting the two countries' militaries so far, in part because that might mean sending Belarusian men to fight in Russia's rebel region of Chechnya. (RIA, February 1)

…BUT DISAGREE ON BANKNOTE ISSUANCE
Belarus and Russia have agreed to use a single currency, the Russian ruble, in a future union state but differ on who should control the issuing center, Pyotr Prokopovich told a news conference in Minsk. "We have agreed on all parameters - on foreign debt, inflation and interest rates. But we insist that each central bank should have equal rights on the territory of its state," he said. " The National Bank of Belarus should have the right to make its own emission within up to three percent of gross domestic product which would cover the budget deficit." An agreement on the use of the Russian ruble in the future union state may be signed later this month or in March. Belarus, where market reforms have been slow, inflation high and the local ruble currency falling amid multiple exchange rates, also opposes Russia's proposal to introduce the ruble in the course of a single day, saying this would generate too great a shock for its economy. "We are a small state and should defend ourselves," Prokopovich said, adding that Minsk would insist on a slow and gradual introduction of the Russian ruble. (Reuters, February 3)

-CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS-
February 14 - Malady Front to stage action of protest "Belarus into Europe!"
February 15 - Opposition to mark anniversary of withdrawal of Russian troops from Afghanistan
March 15 - Opposition to stage the Freedom March-2.
March 22 - Democratic Trade Unions to stage nationwide protest.
March 25 - Opposition to mark the founding in 1918 of the Belarusian People's Republic.
April 26 - Opposition to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster

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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 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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