INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 4, No. 4
January 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

- PACE does not restore special guest status for Belarus
- Lukashenko considers ending talks with PACE
- U.S. envoy to OSCE urges Belarus to respect its commitments
- Lukashenko faces poll challenge from former defense minister
- U.S. official meets opposition presidential candidates in Minsk
- Another assault on media freedom in Belarus
- Authorities seize property of independent journalist
- Borisov activist fined for organizing unauthorized pickets
- Opposition youth organization denied registration
- Regime refuses to review sentence of imprisoned deputy
- Trade Union leader arrested in Orsha
- Lukashenko commended for "spiritual revival of Orthodox faith"
- Pastor charged with speaking on behalf of "non-existent" organization
- Russia, Belarus spar over replacement of jailed Union official

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS-

PACE DOES NOT RESTORE BELARUS' SPECIAL GUEST STATUS

On January 24, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) expressed profound concerns that Belarus continues to fall short of the Council's standards with respect to free and fair election, rule of law, and human rights. For those reasons, the Assembly has decided not to restore guest status to Belarus, which was granted on September 16, 1992, as the first step to the country's admission to the COE. Following the controversial November 1996 referendum on constitutional changes in Belarus, PACE suspended the guest status in January 1997. Last year, the Assembly held out the prospect of renewing special guest status to Belarus if it creates a "parliament worthy of its name." Apparently, the Belarusian authorities have failed to fulfill this requirement. (Council of Europe, January 26)

LUKASHENKO CONSIDERS ENDING TALKS WITH PACE

Alexander Lukashenko expressed strong disagreement with the PACE's decision not to restore ' special guest status for Belarus with PACE, reported Itar-Tass. The Belarusian leader said that his country should cease all the talks with the Parliamentary Assembly, reported Belapan. "Our parliament should stop crawling on its knees at this Assembly," Lukashenko told reporters, after a meeting with Askar Akayev, president of Kyrgyzstan. "We have elected a parliament, which has been recognized by the people, and we must cooperate with those who want to cooperate with us," he said. Lukashenko stressed that no one will dictate conditions to his government. "Our presidential election will be no worse than any other countries'," he said, adding that by not paying (membership) fees, his government will save several thousand dollars that might be used to improve medical care for the population. In November 2000, Lukashenko had raised the prospects of asking election observers from the OSCE to leave Belarus. He said the observers would not be required in the presidential election, expected in September. (Itar-Tass, January 24)

U.S. ENVOY TO OSCE URGES BELARUS TO RESPECT ORGANIZATION'S PRINCIPLES

Belapan reported on January 23 that Amb. David T. Johnson, U.S. Representative to the OSCE, sent a letter to the OSCE leadership concerning the observance of the human rights in a number of the European countries. Following are excerpts from the letter regarding Belarus:

"We are still deeply concerned about the fact that the Belarusian government has not investigated the disappearances of Yury Zakharenko, former interior minister, who disappeared on May 7, 1999; Viktor Gonchar, deputy chair of the 13th Supreme Soviet, and businessman Anatoly Krasovsky, who disappeared without a trace on September 16,1999; and Dmitry Zavadsky, a cameraman with the Russian public television network ORT who has been missing since July 7, 2000. We are also concerned about the latest actions by the Belarusian government aimed against free press. These involve the refusal to prolong the license for Vosmoi Kanal (Channel 8), the only independent Belarusian TV channel broadcast in Minsk, to use a transmitter."

The upcoming presidential election is offering Belarus yet another opportunity to show its adherence to OSCE principles concerning the setting of conditions for a free election, such as respect for human rights and the rule of law, the Ambassador said in the letter. (Belapan, January 23)

LUKASHENKO FACES POLL CHALLENGE FROM FORMER DEFENSE MINISTER

General Pavel Kozlovsky, a former Belarusian defense minister, is preparing to run against Alexander Lukashenko in the presidential election due later this year. After spending 30 years in the Soviet Army, Kozlovsky served as defense minister from 1992 to 1994 and resigned when Lukashenko took power. The general appears to be counting on support from Russia. If he gets it, Lukashenko could face the most serious challenge in his seven years in power. In an interview with the Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Russian newspaper, Kozlovsky claimed to have "plenty of friends in Russia" within the Russian armed forces and the government. Russia does have strategic and economic interests in Belarus, its "buffer-state" with Europe, that it wants to protect. The Kremlin is reported to have convened a special group to monitor the Belarusian presidential campaign. This has prompted speculation that Russian president Vladimir Putin might give at least covert support to a "Kremlin candidate" rather than Lukashenko. Kozlovsky appears to be applying for that position. Besides Kozlovsky, at least three opposition figures are talking about running: Mikhail Chigir, a former prime minister; Semyon Domash, a former provincial governor; and Vladimir Goncharik, a trade union leader. Kozlovsky says he plans to hold consultations with these rivals. (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, January 23)

U.S. OFFICIAL MEETS OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN MINSK

On January 23-24, John Armstrong, Belarus Desk Officer at the U.S. Department of State, held meetings with the potential presidential candidates from the opposition and journalists at the U.S. Embassy in Minsk, reported Belapan. Lydia Yarmoshyna, head of the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda, canceled a scheduled meeting. Semyon Domash, a deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet and chair of the Grodno Initiative and the Coordination Council of Belarusian Regions, Vladimir Goncharik, chair of the Belarusian Federation of Trade Unions, and representatives of Mikhail Chigir, former Prime Minister, shared with John Armstrong their views on the political situation in the country. The representatives of the independent press said at the meeting that the regime maintains an economic monopoly over the press through its ownership of nearly all printing and broadcasting facilities and its management of the distribution of all print media through official outlets. Independent newspapers have been severely harassed and restricted by censorship, intimidation of journalists, and arbitrary fines and taxation. They cited a draft of the Law On Information Security and the recent seizure of one of the two printing presses operated by Magic, the main independent publishing house for eighteen independent and opposition periodicals in Minsk, as indicators that the pressure on the independent media is becoming increasingly strong in the run-up to the presidential election. (Belapan, January 24)

ANOTHER ASSAULT ON MEDIA FREEDOM IN BELARUS

The proposed Law On Information Security is another attempt to curb access to information and freedom of expression in the country, reported Charter 97. The new law says very little about the citizen's right to access to information but makes detailed and complex provisions on how to control information in all forms of media. While the draft law in par. 2.2 states that citizens have the right to access to information, subsequent clauses limit this right considerably. In particular, there is a plan to establish special authorities with the power to deal with so-called "harmful information." The definition of what constitutes "harmful information" is vague and could be used to stifle legitimate media criticism of the authorities and others. The definition includes "reducing a person's mind to a more primitive level through information," information from "destructive religious organizations" and other curious, ill-defined phrases. In addition, state authorities would have power to "detect and counteract" so called "information attacks on critical information facilities in the sphere of state administration, military and other vital spheres." There is no independent structure to which journalists could appeal and the role of the courts is apparently not specified. Nor does the law foresee any independent authority to verify the classification of "harmful information" or "critical information facilities." This power rests with the President of the Republic.

The International Federation of Journalists and the Belarus Association of Journalists, the IFJ member organization in Belarus, has strongly opposed the law, warning that its current draft is a confused and complicated regulation that will diminish people's rights to know and amounts to a new assault on media freedom. "The law constitutes a further attack on media freedom and moves toward state control of information in Belarus," said Bettina Peters, IFJ's Director of Projects, in a statement. "It goes against the movement world-wide toward more open government and we call on the Belarus government to withdraw it." The IFJ appealed to the Belarusian authorities to join other European countries in opening up the process of government to public scrutiny. (Charter 97, January 24- IFJ, January 26)

AUTHORITIES SEIZE PROPERTY OF INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST

Charter 97 reported on January 23 that the authorities confiscated the property of journalist Sergei Anisko who failed to pay 5 billion BR (about $15,000) in damages to Victor Sheiman, newly elected Belarusian Prosecutor General. In September, 1999, Sheiman, then secretary of the Belarusian State Security Council, filed a libel suit against the journalist and Naviny, an independent newspaper, in connection with an article published in Naviny about the real estate owned by Sheiman. [Ed. Navyny since closed, and later Nasha Svaboda emerged under the same management.] In late September, the Moskovski District Court in Minsk ruled in Sheiman's favor and ordered the paper to publish a rebuttal and pay 10 billion BR (about $31,000) in damages. Anisko was ordered to pay 5 billion BR. The judgement forced Naviny into bankruptcy, but a month later the newspaper started coming out again under a new banner on the Internet. When court officials visited Anisko's apartment this past summer, they took physical inventory of his property, and seized technical equipment from Segodnya, a Russian newspaper, which was stored at his home. During a second visit in Anisko's absence, they took everything, including light fuses, so the journalist and his wife were left without electricity. (Charter 97, January 23)

BORISOV ACTIVIST FINED FOR ORGANIZING UNAUTHORIZED PICKETS

On January 22, the Borisov (Minsk Region) City Court fined Alexander Abramovich, chair of the Borisov branch of Narodnaya Hramada, or Belarusian Social Democrat Party (BSDP), 150 minimum wages (about $450) for the violation of Art 167 para 1, Art 167 para 2 (organization and participation in mass actions violating public order), reported Charter 97. On November 20, Abramovich along with other BSDP's activists, held three short unauthorized pickets near the Dzerzhinsky Crystal Class Plant, named after Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky, demanding better compensation and improvement in working conditions for the plant's employees. (Charter 97, January 23)

OPPOSITION YOUTH ORGANIZATION DENIED REGISTRATION

The unlawful persecution of NGOs continues in Belarus, taking the form of refusals or delays in registration, intimidation and oppression of their leaders and activists, and slander campaigns in the state mass media. The Malady (Youth) Front, an opposition youth organization, was officially informed about the Ministry of Justice's decision of January 3, 2001, to deny its request for registration on the grounds that it found "irregularities" in the registration documents, reported Belapan. The Malady Front applied for registration on May 1, 2000. Existing legislation stipulates that the Ministry of Justice has to consider the application within one month, although the Malady Front had been waiting for the written confirmation of denial for almost nine months. The organization plans to appeal the Ministry's decision to the Supreme Court. In an interview to a Belapan correspondent, Pavel Severinets, chair of the Malady Front and a former political prisoner, said that the Ministry's decision to denial the Front's request for registration is a manifestation of the regime's fear of the youth organization that can lead large crowds of young people to the street and to the polls during election.(Belapan, January 23)

REGIME REFUSES TO REVISE VERDICT OF IMPRISONED DEPUTY

The Belarusian Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by Tatyana Statkevich, lawyer of Vladimir Koudinov, imprisoned deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet, to review her client's sentence under the guidelines set forth in the new Penal Code, which stipulates that if the new legislation envisages smaller punishment for someone's past crimes, the sentence should be revised, reported Charter 97. The Court based his decision on the fact that in accordance with the new Code only the convict himself may request the revision of his case. Earlier, the deputy categorically refused to apply for amnesty because he does not consider himself guilty. But even if Koudinov would agree to petition the Court for the revision of his sentence, it may take up to two-three years, his lawyer was told at the Supreme Court meeting. The deputy was arrested on February 4, 1997, on corruption-related charges widely believed to be politically motivated and sentenced on August 4, 1997, to seven years of hard-labor. Later, his prison term was shortened to five years. Koudinov was one of the members of parliament who called for an impeachment of Lukashenko after the unlawful 1996 constitutional referendum. (Charter 97, January 23)

TRADE UNION LEADER ARRESTED IN ORSHA

On January 21, Alexander Stolyarov, chair of the Orsha (Vitebsk Region) of the Free Trade Union of Entrepreneurs, was detained while passing out Changes, an opposition newsletter. The trade union activist was taken to the police station and questioned about his participation in organizing a warning strike staged by open market and street vendors on January 1-5 in many Belarusian cities. In an interview with Charter 97, Stolyarov said that ahead of the presidential election, the regime is afraid of the influence the Free Trade Union of Entrepreneurs and the Independent Trade Union of Belarus have on workers and entrepreneurs and exerts all possible means of pressure on the movement's leadership. (Charter 97, January 23)

--RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN BELARUS--

LUKASHENKO AWARDED FOR "SPIRITUAL REVIVAL OF ORTHODOX FAITH"

On January 22, Alexander Lukashenko was awarded the cross of Efrosinya Polotskaya, the patron saint of Belarus, by Russian Patriarch Alexis III for his contribution to the unification of Orthodox believers, reported Belapan. "We know what a contribution you have made to the spiritual renaissance of the Orthodox faith," said Alexis at the ceremony held in the cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Since his election as the country's president in July 1994, Lukashenko has pursued a deliberate policy of favoring the Orthodox Church as the country's chief religion and harassing other non-Orthodox religions. Some of these, including many Protestant denominations, the Belarusian Orthodox Autocephalous Church, and some eastern religions, repeatedly have been denied registration. The Belarusian leader and his government encourage a greater role for the Orthodox Church, largely as part of an overall strategy to strengthen Slavic unity in the region. The Orthodox Church is granted special financial advantages which other denominations do not enjoy and has declared the preservation and development of Orthodox Christianity a "moral necessity." (Belapan, January 23)

PASTOR CHARGED; JUDGE THROWS CASE OUT

Veniamin Brukh, pastor of the Full Gospel Church in Minsk, was charged with "speaking on behalf of a non-existent organization" under Art. 167, para 10 of the Belarusian Code of Administrative Offences. In an interview with the Belaruskaya Gazeta on November 6, 2000, he had been referred to as the deputy coordinator of the Association for Religious Freedom in Belarus," and in a November 2, 2000, letter to the Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs and Belarusian Television, Pastor Brukh signed, using the same title. In the letter, Rev. Brukh expressed his indignation over a documentary titled Expansion, aired by the Belarusian State TV on both October 26 and November 2 last year. The movie alleged that Protestant communities carry out fanatical rituals, including the ritual use of human blood and human sacrifice, threaten Orthodox priests with physical violence, and erode the national-religious consciousness of the Belarusian people (See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 51).

On January 12, Vladimir Ionov, officer of the Moscovsky District Department of Internal Affairs, took Rev. Brukh to the police station for interrogation. The officer allowed Dina Shavtsova, the congregation counsel, to be present. A summons was issued for Brukh to appear in court the following day. Luckily, the judge threw the case out because the two months allowed for bringing such a charge had already expired.

The Association for Religious Freedom in Belarus is an informal group of Protestant church leaders, representing Baptist, Pentecostal, Adventist, Lutheran and charismatic churches, who have met periodically over the last few years to discuss religious liberty concerns. In Minsk, for example, Protestant churches which do not have their own buildings have been prevented by the
city council from renting any other premises, and hold their meetings at members' apartments.
The church leaders involved in the association are not optimistic that the authorities will allow the association to register as a social organization. "We have the word 'religious' in our name," Pastor Brukh told Keston, "and the Ministry of Justice has said it will not register a social organization with such a name."

On January 18, Alla Ryabitseva, head of the Department for Religious and Ethnic Affairs of the Minsk City Council, told Keston News Service that she "did not know" what would happen if anyone spoke again in the name of the Association for Religious Freedom in Belarus. Ryabitseva claimed she had never heard of the association. Asked why it is necessary to have registration to be able to exist and function, she declined to answer such an "abstract policy questions" since her department "deals only with concrete issues." She declined to comment on how actions against Pastor Brukh squared with the Belarus' commitment to freedom of association under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights agreements to which Belarus is a party. (Keston News Service, January 19)

--BROTHER SLAVS-

RUSSIA, BELARUS URGE OVER REPLACING JAILED UNION OFFICIAL

On January 25, Mikhail Kasyanov, Russian Prime Minister, signed a decree, which temporarily replaced Pavel Borodin, the corruption-tainted secretary of the union of Russia and Belarus, with Igor Selivanov, one of Borodin's deputies, reported Interfax. The move filled a vacuum left when Borodin was taken into custody on January 17, 2001, by FBI agents as he stepped off a plane at JFK airport in New York on an extradition request from Switzerland, where he is wanted on money-laundering charges. Leonid Kozik, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister, immediately rebuked Kasyanov, officially the Union's inter-governmental chief, for exceeding his authority. "By naming a new secretary without Belarus's consent, the leader of the union's government has clearly exceeded his authority," said Kozik, who also acts as Lukashenko's spokesman on Union affairs. Victor Khristenko, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, dismissed Kozik's charges, saying Borodin's position could not remain vacant indefinitely while he battles extradition to Switzerland. Alexei Volin, Putin's aide, also defended Kasyanov's action, saying that unless a temporary replacement for Borodin was found, the union would be paralyzed.

On January 25, a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, rejected a request by Borodin's lawyers to release the former Kremlin aide on bail pending a decision on the Swiss extradition demand. A close friend of former president Boris Yeltsin and political mentor of Vladimir Putin, Borodin does not enjoy diplomatic immunity as a result of his position on the Russia-Belarus union. Swiss prosecutors accuse Borodin of taking at least $25 million in bribes from two Lugano-based construction firms involved in Kremlin renovation work and then laundering the cash in Swiss bank accounts. Borodin has denied that he illegally opened Swiss bank accounts either for himself or other senior members of the former Kremlin administration, including members of Yeltsin's family. (Interfax, January 25)

***For daily updates, visit our partner's website, Charter 97, www.charter97.org with news in Belarusian, Russian, and English.

-CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS-

March 5-7- the Parliamentary Troika of the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and the OSCE and the European Parliament to visit Belarus ************************************************************************

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 60th 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.

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