INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 4, No. 8
February 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

- Human Rights Center: situation worsened significantly in 2000
- Two newspapers reprimanded
- Son of opposition presidential candidate charged with larceny
- Russians asked for help in suppressing independent press
- Malady Front leader receives heavy fine
- Opposition leader refuses to testify in court
- 64 candidates to compete for 13 seats in the Lukashenko parliament
- Belarus seat at OSCE PA will remain vacant
- OSCE helps Belarusian inmates
- Trial over professors continues
- Opposition party urges its exiled leader to run for presidency
- Lukashenko accepts diplomatic credentials of U.S. ambassador

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS-

HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER: SITUATION WORSENED SIGNIFICANTLY IN 2000

On February 20, Viasna Human Rights Center released its annual Human Rights Report, which indicates that the Belarusian government's human rights record worsened significantly in 2000, reported Nasha Svaboda, an independent newspaper. The report has documented numerous abuses of political and civil rights. It estimated that several thousand people were subjected to repression in 2000. For example, those seeking to exercise the right to freedom of assembly face serious constraints. In Minsk, the authorities have made the center of the city off limits for any demonstrations or pickets. The authorities often wait until the last minute to issue permits for demonstrations. Even when a mass protest is allowed, the authorities immediately launch a contra-propaganda campaigns, urging citizens not to attend an opposition event. Participants in peaceful pro-democracy rallies have been detained or beaten. The regime stages political show trials of the organizers of such protests, using the continual threat of imprisonment to force opposition activists to cease their activities. The most vivid examples are the trials of Valery Shchukin and Nikolai Statkevich.

The report also points out that the October 15 parliamentary election was completely manipulated by the state authorities. The regime intimidated the democratic opposition by beating, harassing, arresting, and sentencing its members for advocating a boycott of the election, despite of legality of boycott calls. The government did not allow the democratic opposition to have its representatives in the Central Election Commission, nor did it provide the opposition with fair and equal access to state-controlled mass-media. It also dismissed the OSCE's recommendations for making the election law in Belarus consistent with the OSCE standards. Election commissioners had arbitrarily denied registration to over one half of the opposition candidates. Thousands of citizens were pressured by various state institutions to pre-vote for the preferred candidates. (Nasha Svaboda, February 23)

TWO NEWSPAPERS REPRIMANDED

Belapan reported that on February 14, Narodnaya Volya, an independent newspaper, was reprimanded by the State Press Committee for publishing in its February 13 issue an article by Valery Shchukin, a journalist and deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet. Headlined "Do You Want to Run for President? Be Ready to Send Your Son to Jail" the article talks about recent arrest of Alexander Chigir, a son of Mikhail Chigir, former prime minister and a key opponent to Alexander Lukashenko, and Vasily Bykov, on charges of selling spare parts from stolen vehicles. Shchukin believes that the relative of the former prime minister has become the targets of the regime's harassment campaign against the political opposition; and he indicates that Vasily Bykov is related to the famous Belarusian author by the same name.

Although other sources in Belarus contacted by the League deny that Bykov is a relative of the famous author Vasily Bykov, now in exile, Shchukin and Belapan continue to maintain that he is a relative. In January 2000, Vasily Bykov was for fear of persecution after accusing the Lukashenko regime of destroying national culture, literature, and the Belarusian language under the cover of integration with Russia. He lamented that Belarusian culture is controlled by "Soviet colonels with a communist mentality." Bykov now lives in Germany. In issuing the reprimand, the State Press Committee did not agree with Shchukin's assertions that the famous Belarusian writer was forced to leave the country and that arrested Vasily Bykov and his prominent namesake are relatives, and accused the paper of publishing inaccurate information punishable under Art. 32 of the Belarusian Law On Press and Other Means of Media. A similar warning was also issued to Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus, Belarusian outlet of Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russian independent newspaper, for an article titled "Should the Son be Punished for His Father's deeds?" (Belapan, February 19)

SON OF OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CHARGED WITH LARCENY

On February 19, Alexander Chigir, a son of Mikhail Chigir, was officially charged with "large-scale larceny committed by a group" under Art. 205 par. 4 of the Belarusian Penal Code, an offence punishable by up to 15 years in prison, reported Belapan. On February 20, Sergey Koleda was accused of "purchasing or selling goods, previously acquired through a premeditated criminal act committed by a group of people." He has been detained for two-months while the investigation is pending. The Minsk police arrested two more accomplices. The detainees confessed that they stole eight vehicles and parked them in Chigir's garage. It is not clear whether charges are going to be brought against Vasily Bykov, who was released on February 14 on his own recognizance under a pledge that he would not leave town without permission from the authorities. Julia Chigir believes that her son will be kept in jail and publicly slandered until the end of the presidential election campaign. She expressed doubts that the case will ever be sent to court, since she believes that the authorities will not be able to prove Alexander's guilt. Appalled by the unabashed defamation campaign against the detainees, unleashed by the Belarusian state television, Mikhail and Julia Chigir filed a complaint with the Pervomaisky District Court of Minsk against the Belarusian State Television and Radio Company and its journalists Dmitry Kostin, Yuri Prokopov and Evgeny Novikov for slandering their son. They believe that Alexander fell victim to a well-prepared provocation, carried out by the secret services to discredit his father, and demanded air time on the Belarusian State TV to refute all allegations. (Belapan, February 19-21)

BELARUSIAN OFFICIALS TURN TO RUSSIANS TO HELP SUPPRESS INDEPENDENT PRESS

On February 12, the Krichev City Council, Mogilev Region, sent a letter to the authorities of Smolensk, a Russian city near the border with Belarus, urging them to do everything possible to prevent the printing of Volny Gorod (Free City), an independent newspaper, at printers in Smolensk, reported Belapan. Zinaida Skachkova, deputy chair of the Krichev City Council, based her request on the grounds that the paper discredits the Russia-Belarus Union by "slandering the brotherly integration of the two Slavic nations," reported Viasna Human Rights Center. On February 20, Sergey Nerovny, Volny Gorod's editor-in-chief, and Vadim Stefanenko, chair of the local branch of the Malady Front, were fined 50 minimum wages (about $150) each for illegal production and distribution of the printed materials under Art. 154 and Art. 172 para 1 of the Belarusian Administrative Code. On February 2, the police searched a night train to Krichev from Smolensk and confiscated 507 copies of Volny Gorod from a courier. One week later, Stefanenko was detained at a railroad station in Krichev. The opposition activist was searched and taken to the police station, where a protocol was filed against him. During the search, the policemen confiscated 296 copies of Volny Gorod and 302 copies of Nash Volny Gorod (Our Free City), another local opposition outlet. All copies were destroyed. When on February 13, a special police unit, consisting of 15 people, undertook a third attempt to seize a fresh issue of Volny Gorod at the railway station, they were met by the journalists with video-cameras. The law-enforcers searched Stefanenko, but found only one copy of Sovetskaya Belarus, an official newspaper. The local branch of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee filed a complaint with the prosecutor protesting Stefanenko's illegal detention. (Viasna Human Rights Center, February 21)

MALADY FRONT LEADER RECEIVES HEAVY FINE

On February 19, the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk accused Pavel Severinets, leader of the Malady Front, of "organization and participation in mass actions which violated public order" under Art. 167 para 2 of the Administrative Offenses Code and fined him 150 minimum wages (about $460). On February 14, about 1,500 young opposition activists marched in Minsk during the fifth Valentine's Day protest called "Love! Freedom! Changes!" and organized by the Malady Front. For two days, Severinets was hiding at the headquarters of the BPF Adradzhenne, blocked by the police, and surrendered only after the warning that the office will be stormed by a reinforced military brigade. (Belapan, February 20)

OPPOSITION LEADER REFUSES TO TESTIFY IN COURT

On February 19, Nikolai Statkevich, chair of Narodnaya Hramada, the Belarusian Social-Democratic Party (BSDP), refused to testify in the Minsk city Court after a judge rejected his request to postpone the hearing until March 18, when the run-off takes place in the parliamentary election in districts where votes were declared invalid. The BSDP leader, who will try once again to win the seat in the Lukashenko parliament, believes that the trial will interfere with his election campaign. On January 31, the Minsk City Court started a retrial of criminal case against Statkevich, and Valery Shchukin, who on June 19, 2000, were found guilty of "organizing and actively participating in mass actions which violate public order," during the October 17, 1999, Freedom March in Minsk. The Minsk City Court sentenced Statkevich to a two-year suspended term and Shchukin to one year under Art. 168, par. 3, of the Belarusian Criminal Code. (Belapan, February 20)

64 CANDIDATES TO COMPETE FOR 13 SEATS IN THE LUKASHENKO PARLIAMENT

Lydia Yermoshina, Chair of the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda, told a press conference in Minsk that 64 people were registered by 13 district election commissions, where the ballot will have to be re-run on March 18, as candidates to the National Assembly's House of Representatives, reported Belarusskaya delovaya gazeta, an independent newspaper. The repeat election will be held in Minsk, Vitebsk, Brest and Baranovichi, Brest Region. Twenty one candidates were denied registration. The most common reasons for denial were invalid signatures in registration lists or inaccuracies in income and property statements. (Belarusskaya delovaya gazeta, February 19)

BELARUS SEAT AT OSCE PA WILL REMAIN VACANT

On February 19-20, an OSCE delegation, led by Urban Ahlin of Sweden and Gert Weisskirchen of Germany, visited Belarus on a fact-finding mission, reported Belapan. The OSCE officials met with the deputies of the 13th Supreme Soviet and the Belarusian newly elected parliament. The visit came amid a tense war of words between the OSCE and the authoritarian Belarusian leader, who accused the OSCE in January of conspiring with opposition to overthrow his rule. The OSCE has flatly denied the allegations. On February 22, a meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna failed to agree on the issue which group to accept at a full session this summer: members of the 13th Supreme Soviet, disbanded by Lukashenko in 1996, or members of Lukashenko's hand-picked parliament, established last fall during a vote not recognized by OSCE as free and fair. In its recommendations, the mandate commission asked the Assembly to take into consideration the fact that the parliamentary election in Belarus was not democratic, whereas the tenure in office of the deputies of the 13th Supreme Soviet, the last legitimate legislative body of Belarus, ended in January 2001. Adrian Severin, chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Ad Hoc Working Group on Belarus, concluded the debates by saying that for a while Belarus's spot will be vacant. It has been decided to invite the representatives of both the 13th Supreme Soviet and the members of the Lukashenko parliament to the annual OSCE PA session in Paris. (Belapan, February 20)

OSCE HELPS BELARUSIAN INMATES

A program aimed at improving conditions in the Belarusian penitentiary system is being implemented by the OSCE AMG in Belarus. On February 15 -16, the mission distributed hygiene and sanitary items at the two women's colonies in Gomel Region and 3,000 pocket calendars with rules for tuberculosis patients to inmates and administration at Tuberculosis Colony #12 in Orsha. Other initiatives will include a joint seminar with the Belarusian Committee for Criminal Punishment Execution on prison management standards, which is to be held on April 5-6, and a study-tour of the Polish penitentiary system. (OSCE, February 22)

TRIAL OVER PROFESSORS CONTINUES

On February 19, the military board of the Belarusian Supreme Court resumed hearing of the case of Professor Vladimir Revkov, the former deputy rector of the Gomel State Medical Institute, and Professor Yury Bandazhevsky, ex-rector of the Institute, and several other faculty members, charged with bribery, reported Belapan. The criminal case against the well-known scientists, who have been studying radiation problems, was initiated in July 1999. Although the prosecution has failed to produce any evidence, it claims the two took a total of $200,000 in bribes. Local observers fear that some of the testimony from students and parents may have been forced and that the charges against the scientists are in retaliation for their accusation of the Lukashenko government for neglecting and concealing the harmful impact of small radiation doses on people residing in contaminated areas.

Vladimir Sukach, head of the board, turned down the petition of Revkov's attorney, Dmitry Ivanishko, to release his client, who has already spent 19 months in a local pre-trial detention cell, on the condition that he not leave the city without permission from the authorities. It also ignored the recommendations of the physicians to hospitalize Revkov, whose health has significantly deteriorated as a result of torture, threats, and alleged use by authorities of psychotropic substances during the interrogations. Alexander Baranov, Bandazhevsky's attorney, petitioned the court to summon as witnesses members of the Presidential Commission, which investigated the results of the Institute's admission exams. The court rejected the petition on the pretext that testimony of the Commission's members is irrelevant to the case. The court forbade Garry Pogonyaylo, prominent Belarusian human rights advocate, to join the case as the second attorney, claiming Pogonyaylo is not a member of the Belarusian Collegium of Lawyers. Pogonyaylo believes that the court deliberately rules out the process independent lawyers, who enjoy greater freedom than their colleagues from the Collegium. Earlier, Revkov's wife, Natalya, was not allowed to serve as her's husband counsel on the grounds that she does not have formal legal education. Nor was she allowed to be present in the courtroom. (Belapan, February 20)

OPPOSITION PARTY URGES ITS EXILED LEADER TO RUN FOR PRESIDENCY

On February 18, the Conservative Christian Party (CCP), called on Zyanon Paznyak, its exiled leader, who was forced to seek political asylum in the US in 1996, to run for the Belarusian presidency this fall, Sergei Popkov, CCP BPF deputy chairman, said at a news conference in Minsk. Paznyak's registration as a presidential candidate would give certain guarantees of his safe return to Belarus, Popkov said. The CCP has repeatedly stated that it would not support a single candidate for the Belarusian presidency from the united democratic opposition. (Belapan, February 20)

LUKASHENKO ACCEPTS DIPLOMATIC CREDENTIALS OF U.S. AMBASSADOR

On February 22, Alexander Lukashenko finally accepted the diplomatic credentials of Amb. Michael Kozak, the U.S. envoy who has been waiting for accreditation since October 2000, reported Interfax. Despite tense relations with the West, the Belarusian leader struck a conciliatory note in the ceremony with Kozak. "Let's leave behind our past clashes, not all of which were for the good of strengthening mutual relations between the two countries, and take all the best and try to begin a new stage in our relations," he said. "We want the United States to come to us, as it did in 1994, with good advice," Lukashenko continued. His words came as a surprise to many local and international observers. In January, Lukashenko did not invite Amb. Kozak to his traditional Old New Years reception, and last year told his KGB security service to keep a close eye on foreign diplomats. Also on February 22, Pavel Latushko, a spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, told reporters that the country destroyed the last of its launch pads for medium-range nuclear missiles, fulfilling the terms of the landmark Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty signed by the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1987. Latushko added that Belarus had yet to destroy some of its launch pads for large strategic missiles. (Interfax, February 22)

BELARUSIAN ANARCHISTS ARE NOT WILLING TO FULFIL THEIR PATRIOTIC DUTY

Belarus remains a country with compulsory military service and no other options for conscientious objectors. On February 22, a group of young Belarusian anarchists burned their draft notices in front of the building of the Minsk Regional Military Committee for Conscription and solemnly took an oath to never join the Belarusian armed forces under any circumstances. No incidents with the police were reported. (Charter 97, February 22)

--BROTHER SLAVS-

RUSSIAN GENERAL: NATO WILL DO TO BELARUS WHAT IT DID TO YUGOSLAVIA

On February 21, Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Main Directorate for International Military Cooperation, told reporters in Moscow that the controlled crisis scenario tested by NATO in the Balkans will be used in Belarus, reported Interfax. The scenario suggests organizing and financing the political opposition and provoking clashes with the police, Ivashov said. The next step is an announcement by Lord Robertson, NATO's Secretary-General, about the vital necessity of NATO's military intervention to the country, he concluded. (Interfax, February 21)

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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 is 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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