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ILHR
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Tel: 212-661-0480
Fax: 212-661-0416
info@ilhr.org
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Belarus Updates, 2000
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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole
Vol. 3, No. 47
November 2000
IN THIS ISSUE:
- Police disperse youth march in Minsk, detain 112 people
- AI, ILHR
condemn government for crackdown on young protesters
- Government denies
maltreatment of political opposition
- Ministry of Justice warns human rights
NGO
- Harassment of independent press continues
- Lukashenko to build up army to
resist NATO [read: opposition]
- Kremlin plays role of IMF in Belarus
--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS— POLICE DISPERSE YOUTH MARCH IN MINSK, ARREST
112 PEOPLE
On November 12, hundreds of young opposition activists, many with
their faces hidden behind bandanas, marched through Minsk's main thoroughfare in
a peaceful youth protest, chanting "Long Live Belarus!", "Youth for Belarus!",
"Freedom, Nation, Order, Changes!" The protest started at 6 p.m., near the
Academy of Sciences metro station. "Young people want changes," Boris Gunter,
activist of Viasna Human Rights Center, told Reuters. "Today they do not have
enough force to break police cordons, but as the pressure increases, their
activity will grow," he added. "Young people do not want to live in a country of
lies and violence, deceit and fear, servile mentality and dictatorship," Pavel
Severinets, chair of the Malady Front and a former political prisoner, told
journalists before the demonstration. The same day, youth groups staged similar
protests against the regime in 25 Belarusian cities, albeit on a smaller scale.
At 4:30 p.m. the police had already begun arriving at the gathering place and
trying to redirect the rally toward the infamous Bangalore Square, far from the
city center. Refusing to follow this route, 200-300 young protesters began
moving toward Yakub Kolas square. Soon the protesters were surrounded by riot
police wielding clubs and shields. The police began detaining every protester in
sight, hunting down demonstrators in side streets and yards, forcing dozens into
police vans, and repeatedly kicking them and hitting with truncheons. Many of
those detained did not take part in the protest: the demonstration was held in
the crowded city center, near dormitories of the Belarusian Polytechnic Academy.
The press office of the Minsk city police has reported that 112 people were
detained in Minsk on November 12, explaining that the police had to end the
unsanctioned march because participants "were young and excited," and created a
dangerous situation in the city. "We didn't mean it to happen. We just wanted to
prevent them from shaking up a stable European country," Alexander Lukashenko
told a news conference later. 54 detainees were taken to the Sovetsky District
Internal Affairs Directorate, or police (DIAD), 21- to the Pervomaisky DIAD, 25
- to the Moskovsky DIAD, 12 - to the Partizanski DIAD. Fifteen demonstrators,
including six girls, were detained in Grodno. Three activists of the Malady
Front were arrested in Borisov, Minsk Region. While some of detainees were
released shortly, many spent the night at police stations and stood the trial
the next day.
Vera Stremkovskaya, head of the Human Rights Center and a prominent Belarusian
civil rights lawyer, reported that while filling police reports on 16
demonstrators under age 18 at the Pervomaisky District Internal Affairs
Directorate, Lieutenant Svetlana Borodina verbally abused and threatened
teenagers with severe punishment. Stremkovskaya and the parents of the detained
protesters claim that such behavior was caused by alcohol intoxication and filed
a complaint with the Directorate.
Ales Belsky and Ales Dubinchuk, both juvenile activists of the BPF Adradzhenne
from Pukhovichi, Minsk Region, arrived in Minsk to take part in the action and
were detained for almost two days. On November 12, the boys were brought to the
Moskovsky District Internal Affairs Directorate and kept there until midnight
and then transferred to the Okrestina detention center. Only on November 14,
their parents were notified about their kids' whereabouts and allowed to take
them home. (Viasna Human Rights Center - Charter 97, November 12)
PROTESTERS STAND TRIAL
On November 13, the Sovetsky District court of Minsk
sentenced Andrei Yurkovets to three days in jail and fined him 1,000 BYB (about
$1) for participation in mass actions which violated public order under Art.
167, para 1, of the Belarusian Administrative Code. Yurkovets did not take part
in the protest and was detained at about 6 p.m. on his way home from the bakery,
located near the entrance to the Academy of Sciences metro station. During the
arrest, he was told by the policemen that they have been searching for him for
days and know everything about his "illegal activities." They did not listen to
the young man's desperate explanations that he was completely unaware of the
rally.
Andrei Mazovka, Vladimir Samonchenko, Yan Titovich, and Vladimir Lysko were
fined 20 minimal wages (about $70) each. Nadezhda Grechukha was fined 25,000 BYB
(about $23). Olga Timoshuk, Kiril Chulkov, Vladimir Tkachenko, Yury Grigoriev,
and Yaroslav Malishevski were reprimanded. Sergei Klimuk and Denis Mikhalhuk,
BPF Adradzhenne activists from Grodno, were fined 30 minimal wages (about $105)
each.
On November 16, Sergei Shmelev, Denis Eremenko, Ruslan Kharkevich, and Vitally
Koshelev were reprimanded. The trials over others protesters were postponed.
(Viasna Human Rights Center - Charter 97 BPF Adradzhenne press service,
November 13-16)
AI CONDEMNS REGIME FOR CRACKDOWN ON YOUNG PROTESTERS
"In the week that Belarus
is supposed to report at the Committee against Torture in Geneva it is
inconceivable that the Belarusian authorities should tarnish their already poor
human rights record by putting the young people behind bars for demonstrating
peacefully," Amnesty International said in a statement. The human rights
organization considers the young detainees, who were arrested for peacefully
exercising their right to assembly, as prisoners of conscience. "Belarus must
learn that using such shameful degrees of force to herd youngsters, many of whom
were minors, onto police buses and into police vans does nothing to improve
Belarus' sullied image in the international arena. Such ugly displays are
totally at odds with the country's international human rights obligations," AI
said. On November 15-16, a representative from the organization visited Geneva
to speak to the members of the Committee against Torture. The organization has
also submitted to the Committee a report titled "Belarus: Briefing for the UN
Committee against Torture." The report highlights the overall egregious human
rights situation in Belarus, expressing concern about the possible
"disappearances" of opposition figures and the intimidation of their family
members, frequent police ill-treatment of detainees, harassment of human rights
defenders and opposition figures, arbitrary detention of peaceful demonstrators,
the frequent use of the death penalty and appalling conditions in Belarus's
prisons and detention centers. The full text of the statement can be found at:
http://www.web.amnesty.org/web/news.nsf/thisweek/4384361593df4b1d80256996004fb19b!OpenDocument
LEAGUE SUBMITS DOSSIER TO UN COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE
In anticipation of the
review of Belarus at the UN's Committee Against Torture, League representatives
visited Belarus in October and assembled materials from direct interviews as
well as local NGOs, including Viasna 96, Charter 97, the Public Legal Defense
Center, and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee as well as local press reports. A
brief containing the main issues of concern for CAT was presented to the chair
and the expert members, highlighting cases of mistreatment of political
prisoners and poor detention conditions for all types of prisoners; cases of
disappeared persons; police use of truncheons against peaceful demonstrators and
beatings both at street rallies and in precincts; evidence that the judicial
system is not sufficiently independent to handle and provide remedies for
torture cases; use of the death penalty, lack of transparency and appeals
procedures in cases of capital punishment, and refusal to return the bodies of
exeuted persons to relatives; and other relevant information. Under the
precedents of CAT reviews, cases of disappeared persons are accepted as a form
of torture not only due to the possibility that disappeared persons were
tortured or murdered, but because the uncertainty by their absence, and the
absence of follow-up by government and police officials, is itself a form of
torture against relatives and those close to the disappeared. Copies of the
report are available from pzalmayev@ilhr.org (ILHR, Nov. 17)
ILHR: REGIME BREAKS ITS PROMISE TO PERMIT FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
The International
League for Human Rights condemned the regime for crackdown on a peaceful youth
protest held in Minsk on November 12. "Your government's handling of the
protest in which over 100 people were detained makes a mockery of international
standards for freedom of the press and association, violates Belarusian laws,
and blatantly breaks the promise of the Belarusian delegation to 'permit freedom
of peaceful assembly' made to the UN's Sub-Commission on the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights in August 1999," wrote Catherine Fitzpatrick,
League's Executive Director, in an open letter to Alexander Lukashenko. At the
1999 session, the government of Belarus had made a number of pledges to improve
human rights, most of which have been violated or ignored, although the
invitation to the UN's special rapporteur on independence of the judiciary has
been honored.
The League called on Lukashenko to exercise oversight of the police and
judiciary and ensure that: 1) those still in detention are released and charges
are dropped against those who face trial for participating in the protest; 2) a
thorough investigation is made into reports of police brutality during the
course of the demonstration and subsequent detentions; 3) immediate legal action
against those who may have engaged in police brutality; 4) measures are taken to
ensure that citizens are guaranteed their constitutional and
internationally-recognized right to engage in peaceful protest actions in the
future. (ILHR, November 13)
OPPOSITION PARTY CONDEMNS CRACKDOWN ON YOUNG PROTESTORS
The Conservative
Christian Party (CCP), led by Zyanon Paznyak, has condemned the police crackdown
on a demonstration staged by an opposition youth organizations. "The brutal and
groundless use of force reflects the uneasiness and fear that has struck the
servants of the regime, who havelost the ability to soberly evaluate the
situation in the country," the party leadership wrote in a statement. "The head
of the regime himself has long lacked any arguments except the fist in his
'broad dialogue' with society," the CCP said. "This is how he understands the
'climate of trust' that the international community demands from him." (Belapan,
November 15)
REGIME DENIES MALTREATMENT OF POLITICAL OPPOSITION
On November 15-16, the UN's
Committee against Torture considered the third periodic report of Belarus, with
experts from the panel querying a three-member government delegation on reported
detention and maltreatment of members of the political opposition and arrest and
ill-treatment of persons participating in political demonstrations. The
delegation was headed by Alexander Ivanovsky, Deputy Minister of Justice of
Belarus, and included Vladimir Malevich, Deputy Permanent Representative of the
Permanent Mission of Belarus to the United Nations Office at Geneva; and Sergei
Anoshko, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission.
Introducing the report, Ivanovsky said that Belarus "adhered consistently to
human values, and that human rights were the highest value and objective of
society and the State according to the Constitution." The Constitution also
recognized the priority of generally accepted principles of international law
and required that domestic legislation conform with them; international treaties
ratified by the country did have legal force in the country, Ivanovsky said,
adding that the Belarusian government defended the rights and freedoms
proclaimed in such treaties.
The Government has reformed the Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure,
Ivanovsky said; crimes against humanity and deportation not in accordance with
the law, slavery, disappearances, torture, and acts of cruelty carried out on
the basis of race or ethnicity or political conviction or religious belief,
along with other offenses, had been specifically prohibited. Currently, the
nation's court system was being reformed to ensure its true independence, he
said. One goal is to protect those bringing cases for human-rights violations.
The Prosecutor-General and district prosecutors are the prime officials
responsible for human-rights matters, Ivanovsky said; some 33 complaints had
been filed with the Prosecutor office over the past nine months, charging
violations of political rights. Over 700 complaints of violations of the rights
of detainees and prisoners had been filed in recent years. Some 13 people had
been released after the Prosecutor-General had found they were held
illegitimately. Because the country was in economic "transition," it was facing
difficulties in providing appropriate prison facilities, the Lukashenko official
said, and overcrowding was a problem, along with the incidence of diseases such
as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Belarus appealed for international assistance to
help alleviate this problem.
The Lukashenko government officials insisted that most charges of maltreatment
of members of the political opposition in the country had been fabricated and
that participants in political demonstrations in 1999 and earlier this year had
not been inappropriately detained or improperly treated while in custody. All
governments were entitled to maintain public order, and these demonstrations
could only be described as disrupting the peace, they said. The officials were
"surprised" to hear allegations that opposition members were held in cells with
AIDS sufferers and other sick inmates, and that juveniles involved in the
demonstrations were beaten. The delegation maintained that AIDS infected are
kept separately from other inmates, and juveniles are treated humanely. The
treatment of detainees is monitored constantly, the delegation said; at the
stage of preliminary detention, detainees were held in investigative centers,
and they were allowed to have medical treatment; on entry, they were allowed to
ask for medical examinations.
The Belarusian officials also asserted that the country's judiciary was
independent, despite accusations by NGOs that judges and lawyers were under the
influence of Lukashenko and his notorious "vertikal," or vertical change of
command. The fact that senior judges were appointed by the President and could
be dismissed by him did not mean they could not function independently, the
delegation said.
Questions about freedom of the press seemed beyond the mandate of the Committee,
the delegation insisted, but there were in fact numerous newspapers reflecting
varying political opinions in the country, including the opinions of the
political opposition.
The death penalty did exist in Belarus, and a referendum on the topic in 1996
had shown that the public supported the continued use of the death penalty, the
delegation said. Introduction of the sentence of life imprisonment had reduced
the number of death sentences; four persons had been sentenced to death so far
this year. The full text of the first day discussion can be found at:
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/7CD0866E3FD95837C1256999002B7EE8?opendocument
The full text of the second day discussion is located
at:
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/56863668E108B092C125699A002D7027?opendocument.
The Committee is scheduled to issue its conclusions and recommendations on the
report of Belarus on November 20. (UN, November 15-16)
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE WARNS HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER
Viasna Human Rights Center, a
non-governmental organization that sent its report about the human rights
violations in the country to the UN's Committee against Torture, reported that
on October 26 it received a warning from the Belarusian Ministry of Justice for
allegedly using a name that differs from the name registered with the Ministry.
Apparently concerned about possible confusion, the Ministry's officials demanded
that the organization use "Viasna Human Rights Center Public Association"
instead of "Viasna Human Rights Center." Under the current law, two warnings
within a year give the authorities sufficient grounds to shut down an
organization. (Viasna, November 9)
HARASSMENT OF INDEPENDENT PRESS CONTINUES
The regime added one more line to its
long list of the gross violations of the basic principles of freedom of press
and unlawful restrictions on independent media outlets. On November 15, without
any explanations, the authorities blocked the bank account of Novaya Gazeta (New
Newspaper), the only independent newspaper published in Smorgon, Minsk Region,
reported the Belarusian Association of Journalists. This year, the newspaper has
already received two warnings from the State Press Committee and, therefore,
under the Belarusian legislature may be closed down. (BAJ, November 16)
LUKASHENKO TO BUILD UP ARMY TO RESIST NATO [READ: OPPOSITION]
On November 14,
during a visit to eastern Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko said he would reinforce
THE Belarusian army to "withstand pressure from the West and his political
opponents at home." The Belarusian leader said that a strong army is a
convincing argument to present to his critics both at home and abroad. "Because
we are located on the border with NATO, we must keep our powder dry," he said,
referring to the admission of neighboring Poland to NATO last year. "We have the
best-trained army in the post-Soviet area. Next year its combat readiness will
increase by 30 percent to prevent anyone from poking their nose in here,"
Lukashenko said at the meeting with deputies of the Mogilev Regional Council.
"An attack on us has already been launched," Lukashenko said, adding that he
would not tolerate attempts "to shake up the country" and would crack down on
unsanctioned protests. "One must not lose his heart while in power," the
Belarusian strongman told reporters. He confirmed his intention to seek
re-election next year, adding that the election will be "more difficult" than
the previous one. "We will be pressed from all directions," he said. Lukashenko
also said that he expects the newly elected U.S. president to pursue a policy
aimed at improving relations between Belarus and the U.S. "I have always been
ready for a constructive dialogue with the U.S., but I cannot watch calmly as my
authority is being broken over a knee," he said. (Belapan, November 14)
...AND ACCUSES ORT JOURNALIST OF ABDUCTION HIS COLLEAGUE
Alexander Lukashenko
accused Pavel Sheremet, head of special projects at ORT, Russia's public
television station, and the author of the recently aired documentary titled
"Wild Manhunt," about political disappearances in Belarus, of himself
masterminding the abduction of Dmitry Zavadsky, ORT cameraman in Belarus, who
has been missing since July 7 (See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 28-32, 46),
reported Belarusskaya delovaya gazeta, an independent newspaper. "The man, who
produced the documentary, is the one who should be charged with abduction,"
Lukashenko said, adding that the film was aired because the investigators "got
too close to the real figures behind the crime." Sheremet refused to comment on
the accusations calling them "weird and provocative nonsense." [In unofficial
conversations the investigators say that all evidence lead to the Belarusian
security services, particularly to Victor Sheiman, secretary of the Belarusian
State Security Council, and Vladimir Naumov, chief of the Lukashenko
administration's security service.- Ed.]. (Belarusskaya delovaya gazeta,
November 15)
BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION MEETS EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP
On November 15-19, the
delegation of the Belarusian united opposition, which included Amb. Andrei
Sannikov, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus and International
Coordinator of Charter 97; Vintsuk Viachorka, chair of the BPF Adradzhenne;
Anatoly Lebedko, chair of the Belarusian United Civic Party; and Anatoly Korol,
deputy chair of the Belarusian Social-Democratic Party, held a series of
meetings with the European high ranking officials, during which they discussed
the political situation in Belarus and the prospects for the EU's cooperation
with the Belarusian democratic forces. (Charter 97, November 17)
COURT CONSIDERS DEPORTATION OF POLISH CATHOLIC PRIEST ILLEGAL
Belapan reported
on November 13 that the Brest Regional Court has ruled that the deportation of
Father Zbigniew Korolyak, a Roman Catholic priest from Poland, who was forced to
leave Belarus in early June 2000 after ministering in the country for 10 years,
was illegal. The court's decision came as a surprise to Korolyak and his lawyer
since on October 20 the priest was banned from re-entering the country for ten
years. (Belapan, November 13)
KLIMOV'S DEPUTY GRANTED AMNESTY
Leonid Volkovich, deputy director of Andrei
Klimov's company, who in March, 2000, has been sentenced to four years'
imprisonment, forfeiture of property and three-year abstention from office (See
Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 12) on charges of large-scale embezzlement and
forgery, was released under an amnesty declared by Lukashenko earlier this year
to mark the 55th anniversary of the victory over the Nazis, reported Nasha
Svaboda, an independent newspaper. The criminal prosecution of Andrei Klimov, a
deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet and businessman, who has been sentenced to six
years in prison after a controversial eight-month trial, was widely regarded as
politically motivated. (Nasha Svaboda, November 17)
-AT HOME IN BELARUS- LUKASHENKO APPOINTS NEW DEPUTY ADMINISTRATION CHIEF
Alexander Lukashenko has appointed Gen. Yury Sivakov, former Belarusian Interior
Minister, as deputy chief of his administration responsible for organizational
and personnel issues, reported Nasha Svaboda. "Judging by your appearance, you
enjoy good health after you have taken a little rest," Lukashenko said to
Sivakov, adding that Mikhail Myasnikovich, head of his administration, who is
now "barely dragging his feet," desperately needs some help. Expressing a hope
that his faithful servant Sivakov will significantly reinforce the presidential
administration's leadership, Lukashenko said that he is especially happy with a
fact that the former Interior Minister has "normal relations with the
opposition." [Sivakov resigned in April, 2000 "for health reasons" after
journalists and a representative of the OSCE were detained on March 25, during
the Freedom March-2, an opposition demonstration (See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No.
13).-Ed.]. (Nasha Svaboda, November 17)
MINSK DENIES LUKASHENKO FINANCED ANTI-YELTSIN GENERAL
On November 15, Tamara
Rokhlina, widow of Gen. Lev Rokhlin, former chair of Russian Duma's Defense
Committee, who was found guilty of murdering her husband and sentenced to eight
years in prison, told a court that Alexander Lukashenko financed her husband's
preparations for an anti-Yeltsin military coup d'etat in 1998, reported
Interfax. Mikhail Myasnikovich and Nikolai Borisevich, spokesman of the Belarus
Foreign Ministry, have promptly denied the allegations, calling them groundless.
(Interfax, November 15)
BROTHER SLAVS- KREMLIN PLAYS ROLE OF IMF IN BELARUS
Russia and Belarus still
cannot agree on which country will have the control of the printing presses and
monetary policy if the two economies are merged. So far Minsk has been paying
off a $227 million debt to Moscow partly with shipments of tractors. But in an
effort to keep the controversial Russian-Belarusian reunification drive alive,
Mikhail Kasyanov, Russian Prime Minister, announced on November 14 that Russia
would loan Belarus $100 million to help support the wobbly Belarusian ruble,
reported Interfax. The loan was announced at a meeting of the Council of
Ministers of the Russia - Belarus Union, an organization set up to oversee the
eventual assimilation of Belarus into the Russian economy. At the end of this
month, President Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko are expected to sign a
treaty on unifying their national currencies. The merger itself will still be
five years off, but ultimately Belarus is to accept the Russian ruble as its
national currency. Before then, Kasyanov said, the Belarusian economy needs to
be brought up to par with Russia's. The loan is to be modeled after similar
loans Russia has gotten from the International Monetary Fund: it will be doled
out in tranches, with each tranche dependent on both need and on Belarus
adopting the economic policies that Russia recommends. A first $30 million
tranche of the loan could be delivered to Minsk by the end of December, Kasyanov
said. (Interfax, November 14)
BELARUS PROTESTS AFTER TOP DIPLOMAT ASSAULTED IN POLAND
Frosty relations between
Minsk and Warsaw has been straining further still since Poland's accession to
NATO. On November 10, Vladimir Belsky, Belarusian Ambassador to the Czech
Republic, was attacked by unknown assailants in Warsaw as he was driving through
Poland to Prague, reported Belapan. The attackers fractured Belsky's arm and
stole his car. On November 12, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry sent a note of
protest to Poland, drawing the Poland's leadership attention to "an increasing
number of attacks on Belarusian citizens in Poland" and demanding a prompt
investigation into the case of beating of his Ambassador. (Belapan, November 13)
************************************************************************
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 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) 661-0480 or fax
(212) 684-1696 or visit our web site at www.ilhr.org
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