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Belarus Updates, 2000
INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole
Vol. 3, No. 23
June 2000

IN THIS ISSUE: -Lukashenko Furious Over Opposition Trip to U.S.
-Washington Warns Minsk to Stop Threats to Opposition -Jail Terms for Opposition Leaders
-Victim of Police Brutality Sues Assailants in Court
-Human Rights Center Burglarized
-New Attacks on Independent Media
-Baltic Assembly Calls on Regime to Create Dialogue Conditions
-Local Activists on Trial for Belarusian Flag
-Constitutional Court Approves Alternative Military Service-Lithuania Protests Belarusian Military Appointment

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS-- LUKASHENKO FURIOUS OVER OPPOSITION TRIP TO U.S.
At the May 30 meeting of the so-called "broad public dialogue," Alexander Lukashenko warned opposition leaders who just returned from the U.S. that he viewed them as a "security threat." [The opposition politicians had travelled to Washington in May to meet with State Department and White House officials as well as influential Congressmen. See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 22] "Representatives of the extreme radical opposition are seeking money abroad to overthrow our government," Lukashenko claimed. He added that the visit would be discussed in the country's highest security body. "Such things cannot be taken lightly," he said. Lukashenko lashed out at Western pressure on the Belarusian government to hold an authentic dialogue with the opposition and to allow greater freedoms. "The goal of the dialogue is to steer unacceptable, destructive confrontation into a civilized framework," Lukashenko countered. The Belarusian leader also condemned protests as a means of political pressure. "We will never accept pressure through street democracy. We will listen to all but we will act according to the laws and constitution."

According to a Belapan report, Lukashenko urged the opposition to take part in parliamentary elections this fall, pledging to create equal conditions for all candidates in the ballot. "The authorities pledge not to take any actions that would worsen conditions for activities of all public organizations, parties, and groups, including the opposition political parties, but the radical opposition must abstain from actions that violate the laws and cause deliberate damage to the political and economic interests of the nation," said Lukashenko.

Amb. Hans-Georg Wieck, who attended the meeting, reminded Lukashenko of the four conditions that the OSCE Troika [Norway, the past chair-in-office; Austria, the current chair; and Romania, the future chair] identified during its recent visit to Minsk in order to recognize the forthcoming parliamentary elections. [They include respect for human rights, opposition access to state media; modification of the electoral code; and restoration of certain functions to the parliament ­Ed]. Lukashenko slammed OSCE for its alleged "double standard," saying: "If you keep scolding me for persecuting citizens for political reasons, then I will tell them the truth about our negotiations concerning the case of Chigir and others, for if it hadn't been for the 'dictator' Lukashenko, he would have been sentenced to five years' imprisonment." The Belarusian leader officially invited observers from the OSCE and other international organizations to Belarus to monitor the elections. He pledged that a bill of amendments to the Electoral Code will be submitted to the Belarusian National Assembly for approval shortly. He did not specify which provisions of the code are to be amended, adding only that the changes may affect the procedure for establishing electoral commissions and the status of international and domestic observers. (Interfax, Belapan, May 30)

FOREIGN MINISTRY LASHES OUT AT HELMS VOW TO SUPPORT DEMOCRACY
In a statement released May 27, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry expressed its concern about a pledge from Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) to spearhead efforts to earmark a substantial amount of funds through the U. S. Congress to support Belarusian democracy. "U.S. financing of opposition activities could be considered only as a flagrant interference in a sovereign nation's internal affairs," said the Ministry. "A reception was bestowed on representatives of the Belarusian political spectrum that evade participation in the broad political dialogue in the country, giving grounds for questioning the sincerity of American legislators' declarations about their interest in the building of democracy in Belarus," added the Ministry. (Interfax, May 27)

U.S. WARNS LUKASHENKO OVER THREATS TO OPPOSITION
On May 30, the United States warned Lukashenko not to act on threats against opposition figures who visited the U.S. "Any retribution against these individuals because of their meetings in Washington would be a serious mistake," said State Department spokesman Philip Reeker. Noting the upcoming polls, Reeker said punishment of the opposition delegation "would further set back efforts to restore the legitimate, democratic process in Belarus." "We urge the Lukashenko regime to end the political crisis in Belarus through a true dialogue with the opposition resulting in free and fair elections," he said. (Agence France Presse, May 30)

CSCE OUTRAGED OVER LUKASHENKO THREATS AGAINST OPPOSITION LEADERS
On May 31, Rep. Christopher H. Smith ( R-NJ), chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and CSCE co-chair Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-C) condemned recent threats by Alexander Lukashenko after Belarusian opposition leaders returned home from a trip to the U.S. The Belarusian leader had threatened to punish the democracy activists for "seeking money overseas" and allegedly planning to overthrow his government, saying he viewing them as "security threats." Said Chairman Smith: "Lukashenko's latest outburst is yet another in a long list of threats or worse ­ including detentions or disappearances ­ against those who dare to question his legitimacy and to criticize his suppression of human rights in that long-suffering country. If Alexander Lukashenko wants to create a climate of trust for the fall parliamentary elections, as he apparently pledged to do, treating opposition members as security threats because of their meetings in Washington is outrageous."

Sen. Campbell also expressed grave concern about the personal safety of opposition members, noting the detention and beating of Anatoly Lebedko, chair of the 13th Supreme Soviet's Commission on Foreign Affairs and newly elected chair of the United Civic Party, following the March 25 pro-democracy demonstration in Minsk, which was harshly suppressed by the authorities. "Instead of making threats against democratic activists, Lukashenko should be seeking to resolve the political and constitutional crisis in Belarus by respecting human rights and putting an end to the current climate of fear," said Sen. Campbell. "This includes ceasing the repressions of those who seek to bring democracy to Belarus. The democratic opposition n Belarus deserves both our moral and material support as they seek to overcome the legacy of communism and authoritarianism and build a democratic society firmly rooted in the rule of law." (CSCE press release, May 31)

GEJDENSON CONDEMNS LUKASHENKO'S THREATS AGAINST OPPOSITION Responding to threats from the Lukashenko regime against Belarusian opposition leaders, who may be subject to a high-level security investigation due to their recent visit to U.S., Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-CT), Senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, released the following statement:

"I condemn the Lukashenko regime's attempts to intimidate members of the opposition and repress free speech by threatening to persecute people for meeting with members of Congress and the Administration here in Washington. Lukashenko's thinly-veiled threats reveal that he has little intention of returning Belarus to a state of democracy. Instead, he has shown a total disregard for the most fundamental freedoms of representative democracy -- freedom of expression and the freedom of association. Lukashenko's statement is the latest in a string of repressive measures the regime has employed to silence members of the opposition, civil society and the independent media in Belarus.

"Democracy is an institution built upon the pillars of transparency, rule of law, respect for human rights and perhaps most importantly -- respect for the will of the people. I believe that democracy is the birthright of every person. Sadly, the Belarusian people have been denied that right for so many years. Lukashenko has hijacked democracy in Belarus. He has used Stalinist tactics to return the country to a Soviet-style dictatorship. The American people stand in solidarity with our Belarusian counterparts. We remain committed to supporting the growth of a strong civil society and a freely-elected government in Belarus, based on the principles of representative democracy." He urged the Lukashenko regime to engage in a dialogue with members of the opposition, in order to allow for free and fair elections in Belarus." (USIA, May 31)

LEAGUE DENOUNCES THREATS AS FAILURE TO END POLITICAL CRISIS
In a statement released to Radio Free Europe responding to recent threats to Belarusian opposition leaders who had traveled to the U.S. at the League's opposition, Catherine Fitzpatrick, executive director of the International League for Human Rights said: "We are aware that since the League's guests returned to Belarus this week, there have been a series of bellicose and threatening statements by the Government of Belarus. There is nothing wrong with a country's opposition coming to the U.S. at the invitation of an international human rights organization. Far from a 'subversive' act, this is the normal international discourse of a democratic society and its counterparts abroad." The League had organized a series of meetings for the Belarusian visitors with community groups, research institutes, human rights NGOs, the press, the State Department, and members of Congress. "Unless they are an enemy of democracy and freedom, no one would see anything inherently 'treasonous' about an opposition speaking to our elected representatives about their grave human rights concerns and aspirations for democracy. Any attempt to view this as 'hostile' in the old Soviet manner is a restoration of the cold-war approach," remarked Fitzpatrick.

The League called for a greater investment in democracy in Belarus, "not punishing Belarus by letting it take the greatest hit in the cuts in our overall foreign aid budget." Added Fitzpatrick: "Our visitors are patriots who genuinely care about their country and its future, and the attempt to portray them as 'radicals' or 'traitors' is yet another troublesome indication of the absolute failure of good will on the part of the Belarusian government to engage in negotiations with the democratic opposition, under the conditions set by OSCE, to end the political crisis in Belarus," she concluded. (ILHR, May 31)

MISUNDERSTOOD AGAIN?
On May 31, Valery Tsepkalo, Belarusian Ambassador to the U.S., told columnist James Morrison that the United States had "misinterpreted" the remarks of President Alexander Lukashenko. Cited in Morrison's regular column "Embassy Row" in The Washington Times, Amb. Tsepkalo said he planned to meet with State Department officials to discuss the recent criticism from Washington and explain that Lukashenko was misquoted. "We will try to explain to the State Department that we didn't know the origin of the threatening remarks attributed to the Belarusian leader," the Belarusian envoy said. He added that Lukashenko "continued a political dialogue with political parties" this week, although the opposition delegation did not attend. "He invited the political opposition to meet with him," Tsepkalo said. The ambassador admitted that Lukashenko disagrees with the opposition's tactics to seek political and financial support in the United States. (The Washington Times, June 1)

OPPOSITION CALLS FALL PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION A "FARCE"
On May 31, opposition leader Anatoly Lebedko said that parliamentary elections set by the authorities for the autumn would be a "farce" and indicated that the opposition would be unlikely to take part in them. "The prospects for our taking part in the elections are extremely pessimistic," Lebedko told a news conference in Minsk. "Even if we sit down with Lukashenko and agree on everything, there should still be a four-to six-month gap before the elections. As of today, we think that the elections will simply be a farce, " he concluded. (Belapan, May 31)

OPPOSITION LEADERS FACE IMPRISONMENT
Belapan reported on May 31, the trial of Valery Shchukin, a deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet, and Nikolai Statkevich, chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, continued in Minsk City Court. The opposition leaders are charged with "organizing and actively participating in mass actions which violated public order" during the October 17, 1999 Freedom March in Minsk (See Belarus Update Vol. 2, No. 42), Belapan reported. Prosecutor Galina Goncharova demanded a sentence of two years in a hard-labor colony for Statkevich, and one and a half years of a suspended sentence for Shchukin under Article 168, paragraph 3, of the Belarusian Criminal Code. Statkevich is also charged with the same offense for a July 27,1999 opposition protest in Minsk. Video tapes filmed by police, KGB and Russian TV channels during the Freedom March, show how the opposition leaders did their best to prevent bloodshed. Statkevich told the court that street protests have now become the only way for Belarusians to express their dissatisfaction with the regime. "I fervently believe that this struggle will continue, regardless of whether I am in prison or not. I think that even such harsh measures will never intimidate us," said Statkevich. (Belapan, May 31)

VICTIM OF POLICE BRUTALITY HAS HIS DAY IN COURT
On May 30, Moskovsky District Court in Minsk considered the torture complaint of Alexander Shchurko, 43-year old Minsk resident, against eleven officers from OMON, the Belarusian riot police. On October 17, 1999, Shchurko was detained on Yanka Kupala Street in Minsk following the opposition's Freedom March. He was forced into a police car and taken to the Partizanski District Department of the Interior, or police. He was charged with taking part in an unauthorized demonstration and detained until the following day. Shchurko was then transferred along with 10 other detainees to another detention center in a police van with a metal frame instead of seats. Inside the van, Shchurko was brutally mistreated for more than two hours by the policemen (See Belarus Update Vol. 2, No. 43). Shchurko stated that upon entering the van, he suffered a blow to the head causing him to faint, only to be kicked, punched, sworn at and spat upon after he regained consciousness. Shchurko also stated that police officers kicked and punched other detainees, hit them with truncheons, and forced them to the floor. After being hit for a second time later in the journey, Shchurko lost consciousness again.

In an effort to draw attention to his case, which local attorneys believe is emblematic of many such cases in Belarus, Shchurko has asked for $100,000 in compensatory damages. He has also alleged that as a result of his efforts to obtain redress for his injury at the hands of the police, he has been subjected to threats, including anonymous telephone calls instructing him to withdraw his complaint. One of the assailants also threatened Shchurko at a court session earlier in May, hinting ominously that "the street in Minsk where you live is very narrow and you should be careful when you returns home at night." Shchurko's 20-year-old son, who is studying economics at a state university, has reportedly been threatened with expulsion despite his good grades. The next session of the trial has been postponed. (Charter 97, ILHR, May 30- June 2)

PATTERN OF HARASSMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS CONTINUES
On June 1, Vera Stremkovskaya, a prominent Belarusian civil rights lawyer and head of the Human Rights Center, attorney for Alexander Shchurko in a widely-publicized police brutality case, informed the League that her office has been burglarized by unknown persons who broke the window and entered her office at night. Valuable computer equipment and documents as well as a copier were stolen. On May 20, the Public Legal Aid Association (also know as the Assistance Association), another human rights organization involved in Shchurko's efforts to seek redress, was also robbed. (See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 22). ABA-CEELI, a U.S.-funded program for training lawyers and promoting the rule of law in Belarus, reported that a break-in was also attempted at their office in Minsk, but was foiled by a staffer who was working at night. It appears more than coincidental that the human rights defenders involved in this case, as well as a U.S. legal development office not directly related to this case, have become targets of such disruptive and threatening actions at this time, on the eve of a UN investigator's visit.

The League has brought this pattern of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in Belarus to the attention of the UN's Special Rapporteur on Independence of the Judicial System, who is travelling on a mission to Belarus later this month. Last year Viasna ("Spring") Human Rights Center and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee were also raided and computers stolen. (ILHR, June 2)

AMNESTY SAYS TRIAL MARRED BY INTIMIDATION
Amnesty International expressed concern about the reported intimidation of Alexander Shchurko, a Minsk resident who is suing police for their mistreatment of him. "May 30's court hearing at the Moskovsky District Court in Minsk represented a monumental first step of one man and his determined lawyers to bring the police officers who physically ill-treated him to justice. No other victim of police ill-treatment has successfully taken a complaint so far," Amnesty International said. The human rights organization urged the Belarusian authorities to ensure that Shchurko and his lawyer Vera Stremkovskaya are protected from any form of intimidation, harassment, or ill-treatment. (AI, June 1)

NEW ATTACKS ON INDEPENDENT MEDIA
Obsessed with "hostile forces" at home and "enemies" abroad, the Belarusian regime keeps muffling the independent press. On May 29, Narodnaya Volya and Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta (BDG), two leading independent newspapers, received two reprimands for "abuses of the freedom of mass information" under Article 5 of the Belarusian Law on Press, BDG reported. BDG was reprimanded by the Prosecutor General's office for publishing in its February 22 issue an article by Semen Bukchin titled "Prayer in the Birkenau Concentration Camp." The State Press Committee alleged that Bukchin's article "creates tension in Polish-Jewish relations." Another reprimand was issued for publishing a response to Bukchin's article from a reader Tadeush Malevich, which allegedly "offenses the citizens of the Russian Federation."

Narodnaya Volya was reprimanded for an article by Ivan Makalovich, containing the rhetorical question "Should we ask NATO for help?" Another warning was issued after publication of an article by Sergei Popkov, deputy chairman of the Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front, founded by supporters of Zyanon Paznyak, on the pretext that the party has not been registered with the Ministry of Justice and therefore, the newspaper had no right to disseminate information on its behalf.

On June 2, De Facto, another independent newspaper, was reprimanded by the public prosecutor of the Mogilev Region for publishing an article by Semyon Sharetski, chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet and Acting President of Belarus, entitled "The Infection of Fascism: Lukashenko is Copying Hitler," reported the Belarusian Association of Journalists. The State Press Committee alleged that Sharetski's article "abuses the freedom of mass information" under Article 5 of the Belarusian Law on Press, and "incites national [ethnic] hatred." Editor-in-chief Vladimir Morozov was notified that under Article 16 of the Law, a newspaper may be closed after receiving two warnings within a year. On May 15, Nasha Niva, another independent newspaper which has repeatedly encountered problems with the authorities, was reprimanded by the office of the Prosecutor General for reprinting that same article in one of its April issues (See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 21). (Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, May 31 - BAJ, June 2)

AMERICAN JEWISH GROUP DENOUNCES ATTACKS ON INDEPENDENT PRESS
The Union of Councils of Soviet Jewry, a Washington-based NGO with offices in the former Soviet Union, including Minsk, has denounced the attacks against the Belarusian independent media. "The government's transparently phony concern about supposedly antisemitic articles in Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta, a newspaper that consistently condemns antisemitic ideology, is a perfect example of the Belarusian authorities' cynical duplicity when it comes to this issue," declared Micah H. Naftalin, UCSJ's National Director, in a press release on the UCSJ's web site. "Our colleagues in the Belarusian Jewish community have had to fight tooth and nail to get prosecutors to even consider bringing charges against genuinely antisemitic publications, but in this case the authorities acted without any prompting from the Jewish community. Obviously, this is an attempt to intimidate and perhaps shut down a newspaper that is critical of the Lukashenko regime, and in Orwellian fashion, the government is cynically cloaking an attack on a publication that is friendly to the Jewish community by calling it antisemitic."

According to UCSJ, the BDG article concerned the historical debate between Poles and Jews on the true legacy of Auschwitz and quoted the views of some Polish antisemites. "At no point in the article did the author express any approval of the antisemitic statements he quoted. The letter was a response to the article from an angry Polish reader, and was in fact antisemitic. However, letters to the editor by definition do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper, and since this paper has never published antisemitic articles before, and has criticized the government's refusal to act against antisemitic publications, UCSJ views the letter as harmless."

UCSJ noted that last month, a Minsk court upheld a decision declaring that a book produced in a government-owned printing plant ("War According to the Laws of Meanness") with a reprint of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and other antisemitic tracts was "academic literature." Yacov Bassin, UCSJ Minsk Bureau Chief, whose petition to the authorities to bring criminal charges against the publishers of "War According to the Laws of Meanness" was recently rejected, also characterized official warnings to two other independent newspapers (Nasha Niva and Narodnaya Volya) as "nothing less than extortion by the government" which is intent on creating an "information vacuum" in Belarus. "The independent media in Belarus has been under siege for a number of years now; this is just the latest blow," Naftalin concluded. "We call upon the authorities to withdraw the official warnings to Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta and focus instead on the true purveyors of hate in Belarus." (UCSJ, June 1. www.ucsj.org)

BALTIC ASSEMBLY URGES REGIME TO CREATE DIALOGUE CONDITIONS
Lukashenko had imposed a new constitution on Belarus, which effectively destroyed its nascent democracy and returned the country to a Soviet-style police state, human rights violations are routine and living conditions are deplorable because of the stagnant economy, Semyon Sharetski, chairman of the disbanded 13th Supreme Soviet, told the Baltic Assembly. Sharetski, opposition-appointed Acting President of Belarus, has been living in exile in Vilnius since last summer for fear of persecution. In an address to the Baltic Assembly in Tartu, Estonia, Sharetski said he believes that the Belarusian leader and his hand-picked parliament are going to forge election results in the forthcoming parliamentary election this autumn. Sharetski described the Lukashenko-initiated round-table talks with representatives from the different political parties and organizations on resolving current political situation in the country as a "smoke screen aimed at making the unlawful government look lawful."

The Assembly adopted a special resolution on the situation in Belarus, which condemns the current Belarusian regime and calls for immediate dialogue between Lukashenko and the Consultative Council of the Belarusian Opposition and the restoration of a democratically-elected government in Belarus, based on the rule of law and an independent judiciary. The resolution urges Lukashenko to hold free parliamentary elections in 2000 and presidential elections in 2001 and to respect the human rights of all Belarusian citizens, including those members of the opposition who are currently being illegally detained in violation of their constitutional rights. (Baltic News Service, May 29)

ONE YEAR AFTER NEMIGA TRAGEDY: NOTHING HAS CHANGED
One year has passed since 53 people, mainly teenage girls, were trampled to death in a stampede into the metro after a rainstorm during a festival in Minsk on May 30 (see Belarus Update Vol. 2, No. 23). "The Minsk police, although present at the concert in overwhelming numbers, were unable to control the crowd," editorialized Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta on the tragic anniversary. "The government bought the kids a modest funeral, and then buried the corpses in a mass grave. The Nemiga metro station was adorned with a small plaque of remembrance. In most European countries such a failure would have lead to public hearings. During the next year state-controlled courts found no one culpable for the disaster, as there were no hearings."

Opposition leaders and attorneys for the families have identified a number of culprits in the tragedy. "Vladimir Yermoshin, Minsk mayor at the time of the tragedy, was later promoted to Prime Minister, becoming number two in the Lukashenko's government. Parents of the victims think that it is insulting to the memory of their kids killed in the stampede. The government cares so little about the people, that parents say they had lost faith in it. The only results are that the regime has made rock concerts practically illegal and all opposition rallies are controlled by the military and heavy armed law-enforcers." This year's ceremony, marking Belarus's worst tragedy since World War II, was also conducted under heavy police security. (Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, Nasha Svaboda, May 30)

LOCAL ACTIVISTS ON TRIAL FOR DISPLAYING NATIONAL FLAG
On May 30, Brest residents Alexei Balashov, 17, and Sergei Garastuk, 20, were detained by the police for hanging the white-red-white flag with a black mourning strip on Lenin Square in downtown Brest in remembrance of the victims of the Nemiga stampede. They were accused of violating the law on mass gatherings and assemblies and a police report was filed. The activists will have to stand trial soon. [A referendum initiated by Lukashenko in 1995 resulted in the introduction of Soviet-style state symbols to replace the historic emblems, and the white-red-white flag became a symbol of opposition to the Lukashenko government and a symbol of street protests in the country.-Ed.] (Belapan, May 30)

OPPOSITION APPLIES FOR PERMISSION TO STAGE PICKET
The United Civic Party and Charter 97 petitioned the Minsk City Council to hold a picket on Lenin Square on June 19. The activists plan a protest against municipal authorities' crackdown on citizens' right to exercise the freedom of speech and assembly. The two human rights organizations also appealed to the Moskovsky District Court regarding the authorities' ruling to move the places of pickets and mass gatherings to Bangalore Square on outskirts of Minsk. The opposition considers this decision unlawful and anti-constitutional. (Charter 97, June 2)

PAZNYAK'S PARTY URGES SPEED-UP FOR NATIONAL CONGRESS
The Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front, which is headed by exiled leader Zyanon Paznyak, appealed to the Organizing Committee of the All-Belarusian Congress, planned as a gathering of supporters of Belarusian independence, to expedite preparations for the gathering. Worried by "the vigorous efforts made by Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin to deprive Belarus of its independence" the Party urges to hold the Congress no later than in July. (Belapan, May 29)

--RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN BELARUS-- POLISH PRIEST LEAVES BREST, STILL IN BELARUS
Father Zbigniew Korolyak, a Roman Catholic priest from Poland who has been working in the church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Brest for the past nine years, has been ordered by the Belarusian authorities to leave the country by June 1 on the grounds that his pastoral work is illegal (see Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 13, 16, 17, 20, 21). Fr. Korolyak has now departed from Brest, but remained in Belarus, the Baltic Interconfessional Association informed the League. Local authorities do not have information about his whereabouts. On May 30, parishioners held an unsanctioned picket in front of the Brest City Council, protesting against the deportation of Father Zbigniew Korolyak and demanding a meeting with the Council's chairman Vasily Dolgolev. Seven picketers (mostly elderly women, two of them handicapped) were found guilty of "staging an unauthorized demonstration and disrupting Committee's daily work" and fined 13,000 Belarusian rubles (about $13) each. (BIA, May 31)

--AT HOME IN BELARUS-- CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF ALTERNATIVE MILITARY SERVICE
On May 26, the Belarusian Constitutional Court ruled that the Constitution and the universal mandatory draft guarantee conscientious objectors the right to choose a civilian alternative to military service and recommended that an efficient mechanism be established to ensure this right. The Constitutional Court recommended the enactment of a civilian duty law to that effect. It also advised the lower civil courts and administrative agencies, which examine the cases of draft-resisters and deserters, to determine whether such actions were motivated by religious convictions. The Constitutional Court considered the issue at the request of Alexander Abramovich, deputy chief of the Presidential Administration, and Tatiana Protska, chair of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee. The BHC appealed to the Constitutional Court after receiving a complaint from the father of Valentin Gulay, resident of the town of Retchitsa, Gomel Region. As a member of the local Jehovah's Witnesses community, Gulay insisted that his religion does not allow him to bear arms, but was convicted of draft dodging. The Retchitsa District Court sentenced the young man to 18 months of corrective labor. The Gomel Regional Court reversed on appeal, reducing the punishment to one-year suspended sentence. (Belaruski Rynok, May 29)

--BROTHER SLAVS-- CONFERENCE OF RUSSIA-BELARUS YOUTH UNION HELD IN MOSCOW
On May 27, the constituent conference of the Russia-Belarus Youth Union was held in Moscow, Itar-Tass reported. The main task of the new organization is to promote the unity of Russian and Belarusian youth, create a single informational space for young people of the two fraternal nations, and back up ideologically the development of the Russia-Belarus Union. (Itar-Tass, May 27) BELARUS, UKRAINE SAY RUSSIA EYES OWN INTERESTS On May 27, Ukraine and Belarus criticized Russia, saying that Moscow is not interested in real economic integration of ex-Soviet states and only sought to advance its own political interests. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma met Alexander Lukashenko in the same hunting lodge in the Belovezhskaya Forest in southwest Belarus where their predecessors and former Russian President Boris Yeltsin agreed to dissolve the Soviet Union in 1991. Speaking in a spacious hall decorated with the hunting trophies of the Soviet elite, Kuchma and Lukashenko, who appeared glum and detached, said initial hopes for closer ties between ex-Soviet states had not materialized due to the Russian position. Kuchma added that the recent summit in Minsk had shown that Russia wanted to turn the economic union into a tool to exert political pressure on its allies. Lukashenko echoed Kuchma's criticism of Russia. (Belapan, May 29)

-INTERNATIONAL NEWS-LITHUANIA RETALIATES FOR PROMOTING INDICTED BELARUSIAN GENERAL
The Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Ministry has decided to suspend scheduled political consultations with the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, according to Baltic News Service. Lithuania had warned Belarus that appointing Lieutenant-General Vladimir Uskopchik, indicted for organizing the January 13 coup d'etat in Lithuania in 1991, to the post of deputy Belarusian Minister of Defense, may damage bilateral relations (See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 22), Lithuania is taking steps to show that those were not just words. An official visit to Minsk by a high-ranking official from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, scheduled for June, has now been postponed. On May 29, Jonas Paslauskas, Lithuanian ambassador to Minsk, arrived in Vilnius for one-day consultations. On May 29-30, the Fraternity of Victims of January 13, an NGO founded by relatives and friends of the victims of the 1991 events in Vilnius, and the Lithuanian Freedom League picketed the embassies of Russia and Belarus in Vilnius protesting Uskopchik's appointment. On June 1, Nikolai Borisevich, spokesman of the Belarus Foreign Ministry, said Vilnius does not need to "react so nervously" to Uskopchik's appointment, Belapan reported. "Lithuania should avoid blaming Minsk for appointing Uskopchik, just as Minsk avoids blaming Vilnius for giving refuge to Semyon Sharetski," who is "trying to organize a Belarusian government-in-exile in Lithuania," said the Belarusian spokesman. (Baltic News Service, Belapan, May 30- June 1)

ETHNIC LITHUANIANS IN SEMI-SOVIET BELARUS
About 18,000 people of Lithuanian origin live in Belarus, concentrated mostly in a few villages and towns in the northern part of the country, along the border with Lithuania. Virginija Tarnauskaite, resident of Minsk and head of the Lithuanian community in Belarus, says that Lithuanians as an ethnic minority still have some problems, trying to preserve the forefathers' culture, . "The Belarusian authorities avoid the term 'ethnic minority,' and we are seen as an ethnic 'cultural' group. As long as we sing only Lithuanian songs and dance Lithuanian traditional dances, we do not get into conflict with the authorities, but the government is afraid of any political activities of ethnic minorities. We are also very dependent on the good will of local authorities and personal contacts," Tarnauskaite added. (The Baltic Times, May 31)

--CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS--
June 19- United Civil Party, Charter 97 to picket the Minsk City Council
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The 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 59th year, is New York-based human rights NGO in consultative status with the United Nations.

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) 661-0480 or fax (212) 684-1696 or visit our web site at www.ilhr.org

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