INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 4, No. 12
March 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

- 13th Supreme Soviet deputy sentenced to three months in jail
- U.S. officials urge Belarus to respect human rights
- Hypocrisy, Belarusian style
- Regime declares repeat parliamentary election valid
- Independent monitors report mass violations
- Candidates protest against authorities' manipulation of vote
- Police coerce confession through beatings and food deprivation
- Police search offices of independent newspaper, Human Rights Center
- Day of Freedom protest banned by authorities
- Police seize opposition leaflets, arrest three activists
- Belarus is back to Soviet censorship
- NGOs condemn Lukashenko's decree on foreign aid
- Regime intensifies pre-election propaganda in provinces

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS-

13TH SUPREME SOVIET DEPUTY SENTENCED TO THREE MONTHS IN JAIL

On March 20, Judge Ilyina of the Centralny District Court in Minsk sentenced Valery Schukin, a 13th Supreme Soviet Deputy and an independent journalist, to three months in prison on charges of "malicious hooliganism" under Art. 339, par. 1, of the Penal Code, reported Viasna Human Rights Center. On January 16, 2001, Schukin was refused admission to the press conference held by Vladimir Naumov, Belarusian Interior Minister. Despite Schukin's press credentials and the Law On Press and Other Media, which allows free access to such press-conferences to all journalists, police spokesman Bykov said the event was open only to representatives of the state-run media. The police then detained Schukin at the entrance to the building where the press- conference was to take place, knocked him to the ground, and twisted his arms behind his back. While trying to subdue Schukin, the policemen accidentally broke the entrance door, made of glass. As a result, Schukin sustained several deep lacerations. According to eye-witnesses, Schukin lost a significant amount of blood during the twenty minute interval before the ambulance arrived, and lay on the ground while the policemen continued holding his arms.

In its protest letter, the League described the sentence handed down to Shchukin as an attack on internationally recognized press freedoms. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides the right "to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." In a democratic society, reporters accredited with independent, non-state publications are permitted to cover press conferences held by state officials. The League has long been disturbed by the Lukashenko administration's systematic crackdown against independent journalists and all persons critical of his government's policies. On March 21, in an open letter to the Belarusian leader, Catherine Fitzpatrick, League's Executive Director urged him to take steps to improve the media climate in the country, ensure that the rights of independent journalists are guaranteed, and drop all criminal charges against Shchukin. (Viasna Human Rights Center, ILHR, March 21)

U.S. OFFICIALS URGE BELARUS TO RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS

On March 18- 20, a U.S. delegation, consisted of Jon Purnell, deputy assistant secretary of state for newly independent states, and Greg Perett, head of the department for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine of the U.S. State Department, visited Belarus to meet government officials, representatives of the country's NGOs and independent mass media, reported Interfax. The delegation also met the spouses of political prisoners and disappeared opposition politicians. The U.S. officials urged the regime to change its policies on human rights to allow for a restoration of good relations with the United States. "The U.S. position remains unchanged: Belarus must take a number of concrete steps concerning the civic and political rights of its citizens," said Jon Purnell, the first member of President George W. Bush's administration to visit Minsk. "We have discussed with Belarusian officials the precise steps which the government must take," the U.S. State Department official told reporters. The United States has increasingly criticized Belarus for its track record of democratic change. Minsk attributes the flak to its closer political and economic ties with Russia, but Purnell denied that was the case. He explained that the U.S. is ready to recognize the presidential election in Belarus and to work with the lawfully elected Belarusian administration if the vote takes place in compliance with the OSCE criteria. He also criticized as unacceptable a recent presidential decree, which among other things controls foreign donations to the non-governmental sector or for election monitoring (see Belarus Update Vol. 4, No. 11). Purnell pointed out that the presidential decree would prevent the OSCE from deploying independent observers at the forthcoming presidential election. "Measures to restrict freedom, such as those represented by the decree, can only have negative consequences," he concluded. (Belapan, March 21)

HYPOCRISY, BELARUSIAN STYLE

On March 20, Alexander Lukashenko reiterated the need for dialogue with the Bush administration. "The head of state stressed the need to establish an atmosphere of trust in bilateral Belarusian-U.S. relations and to continue constructive dialogue," Lukashenko's press service said in a statement. Mikhail Khvostov, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, also expressed hope that Belarus and the U.S. would eventually restore trust in each other and assured the U.S. officials that Belarusian leadership is willing to conduct the election fairly and democratically, reported Itar-Tass. (Itar-Tass, March 21)

REGIME DECLARES REPEAT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION VALID

On March 18, Lydia Yermoshina, chair of the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda, declared valid the re-run of the parliamentary vote in 13 of the country's 110 constituencies where turnout failed to reach the 25 percent required during a first run-off in October, reported Belapan. "The repeat parliamentary election has been valid in all 13 constituencies, even in Minsk," she said. According to Yermoshina, the turnout reached 72.7 percent on average." The Central Commission chair pointed out that despite the validity, 11 districts had failed to produce clear winners and would therefore require a second round, which will be held in two weeks. Nikolai Statkevich, chair of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, who despite the resolution of the Coordinating Council of the Belarusian Democratic Forces to boycott the parliamentary election decided to participate in the run-offs for the parliament on March 18, has failed to get into the second round, reported Belarusian State TV. (Belapan, March 19)

INDEPENDENT MONITORS REPORT MASS VIOLATIONS

At a March 19's news conference in Minsk, independent election observers contested the official turnout figures, citing numerous violations and claiming electoral fraud, reported Belarusskaya delovaya gazeta, an independent newspaper. "The repeat parliamentary election was accompanied by gross violations of electoral law," said Ales Belyatsky, head of Viasna Human Rights Center and a member of Independent View, a group of independent monitors. The following violations have been the most typical:

1. Arbitrarily reduction in numbers of registered voters to inflate actual turnout.

2. Psychological pressure exerted on voters before and on the day of the vote (threats of expulsion from university, dormitory, hospital, etc.).

3. Destruction of unused ballots without counting them, thus making it impossible to determine the real number of votes.

4. Participation of members of executive bodies in counting votes.

5. Permission to vote with any kind of ID, which violates the electoral code's rule requiring a passport or a similar [address containing] document.

Neither the OSCE AMG in Belarus, not the Coordinating Committee on Observation of Elections, opposition body, observed the second round on the grounds that the October 15 election fell short of meeting the minimum requirements for free and fair vote. On March 20, Alexander Lukashenko thanked local authorities for "outstanding organization of the repeat election," reported Belapan. (Belarusskaya delovaya gazeta- Belapan, March 20)

CANDIDATES PROTEST AGAINST AUTHORITIES' MANIPULATION OF VOTE

On March 22, at a session of the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda, which submitted a summary of the results of the first round of the repeat election into the House of Representatives, Oleg Mozgo, Yuri Voskresensky and Vasily Silchuk, all candidates registered with the 105th voting district in Minsk, declared a hunger strike right in the assembly hall, protesting against the authorities' "manipulation and subversion of the voting process," reported Belapan. Their protest was provoked by the Commission's refusal to nullify the allegedly phony results of the repeat election in the district. The strikers left the premises only after interference of the security guards. (Belapan, March 23)

POLICE COERCE CONFESSION THROUGH BEATINGS AND FOOD DEPRIVATION

Although the 1996 Constitution provides for the inviolability of the person and specifically prohibits torture, as well as cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, law enforcement officials continue to coerce confessions through beatings and psychological pressure. The Vitebsk police arrested and detained for three days Alexander Gukov, despite the fact that he clearly identified himself as a person who has nothing to do with the opposition, but dared to get a funky haircut. Later, after forcing from him a confession that he is an activist of a new nationwide opposition movement called Zubr, the law-enforcers physically and verbally abused Gukov and deprived him of food during the entire time of unlawful detention. [see http://www.zubr-belarus.com/]

In its protest letter, the League noted that in November 2000, the UN's Committee against Torture (CAT), a panel of 10 independent experts who evaluate states' compliance with their international commitments to the UN's binding treaties, recommended that Belarus amend its domestic penal law to include the crime of torture as defined in Art. 1 of the Convention Against Torture; to take urgent and effective steps to establish a fully independent complaints-processing mechanism to ensure prompt, impartial, and full investigations into the many allegations of torture reported to the authorities, and the prosecution and punishment, where appropriate, of the alleged perpetrators. So far, the Committee's recommendations fell on deaf ears. (ILHR, March 22)

POLICE SEARCH OFFICE OF INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER, HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER

On March 16, lieutenant Vadim Kozak of the State Committee for Financial Investigation, and Zhanna Rubina, chief of the Borisov city tax inspection, conducted an unspecified examination of the printing equipment and documents of Borisovskie Novosti (Borisov News), an independent newspaper, reported Belapan. The cash book and some other documents were confiscated and an official report was filed. Anatoly Bukas, newspaper's editor-in-chief, links the inspection to the fact that Borisov was recently flooded with leaflets about the regime's infringements on the right of Belarusians citizens to change their government and its failure to hold free, fair, equal, accountable, and transparent parliamentary election. He categorically denied that the leaflets had been printed on the newspaper's equipment. That same day, the police raided the office of the Borisov branch of Viasna Human Rights Center on the pretext that neighbors constantly complaint about noisy illegal gatherings which take place in the apartment. However, none of the neighbors confirmed that they had complained about the Viasna's activities. The human rights activists do not rule out that the real goal of the police visit was to look for printing equipment and materials. On March 19, employees of the department for combating organized economic crime searched the local paper factory, obviously looking for the equipment used for printing the leaflets. (Belapan, Viasna Human Rights Center, March 16)

DAY OF FREEDOM PROTEST BANNED BY AUTHORITIES

The BPF Adradzhenne press service reported that the Minsk City Council banned the democratic opposition from holding the Day of Freedom protest on March 25 in downtown Minsk to commemorate the 83rd anniversary of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR) on the pretext that it will threaten public safety and issued a permit only to hold a rally at the infamous Bangalore Square on outskirts of Minsk. Opposition parties, however, are going to ignore the ban and hold the rally downtown. They believe that by banning the march the authorities deliberately provoke civil disobedience. On March 19, the organizing committee appealed the City Council's decision in the Moscovsky District court of Minsk.

Founded in 1918, the BNR, which was crushed within months by the Bolsheviks and is revered by the opposition as a prototype of independent Belarusian statehood. Last year, in a violent crackdown on an opposition-organized rally to mark the 82nd anniversary of the BNR, over 300 demonstrators were arrested and prosecuted for their participation in the event. Many leading opposition politicians were sentenced to 5 to 7 days imprisonment. Thirty five foreign and local independent journalists were beaten and detained by the military and police special forces. Fearing that the regime may repeat last year's manhunt, the Belarusian Association of Journalists demanded from the authorities to stop suppression of freedom of speech and assembly, as well as the freedom to receive, retain, and disseminate information, and to cease its campaign of harassment against the independent media. (BPF Adradzhenne press service, March 16-19)

POLICE SEIZE OPPOSITION LEAFLETS, ARREST THREE ACTIVISTS

The BPF Adradzhenne press service reported that the Minsk police accompanied by KGB officers conducted an unlawful search of cars owned by the BPF Adradzhenne and confiscated a few thousand leaflets prepared for the upcoming opposition-organized Day of Freedom demonstration. Sergei Mikhnov, secretary of the BPF Adradzhenne Council, and two other BPF members from Gomel and Orsha, Vitebsk Region, were arrested and charged with "distribution of the printed materials of unregistered outlet" under Art. 172, par. 3, of the Belarusian Administrative Court. (BPF Adradzhenne press service, March 21)

BELARUS IS BACK TO SOVIET CENSORSHIP

Under the pretext of protecting the public from subversive ideas, the regime continues to restrict the freedom of speech. Mikhail Myasnikovich, head of the Lukashenko administration, issued an order obliging the press services of state institutions to check the reliability of their reports with the National press service and the press service of the Presidential Administration to ensure "objectivity of information" published in the state press, reported Nasha Svaboda, an independent newspaper. Vladimir Zametalin, Lukashenko's ideologist, will be in charge of fulfilling the order, which will further curtail freedom of the media in the country. In 1999, the Lukashenko government undertook a series of obligations to ensure absence of censorship and providing equal access to state-controlled media. It is obvious today that those promises were yet another attempt to misguide the international community while continuing the practice of violating human rights. (Nasha Svaboda, March 19)

THREE PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS AGREE TO COORDINATE CAMPAIGNS

In the atmosphere of a deteriorating respect for human rights, political show trials, deeply flawed parliamentary election, disappearance of well-known opposition figures, restrictions on press freedom, a ban on public demonstrations, Mikhail Chigir, former prime minister and a key opponent to Alexander Lukashenko, Col.-Gen. Pavel Kozlovsky, former Belarusian defense minister, and Vladimir Goncharik, trade union federation leader, agreed to set up a "trilateral union" to ensure the victory of the democratic candidate in this fall presidential election. The three presidential candidates are going to coordinate their activities to create conditions for free and fair vote. Under the Belarusian electoral code, each candidate has to collect a minimum of 100,000 citizen signatures to be registered as a presidential candidate. (Nasha Svaboda, March 19)

REGIONAL DEMOCRATS UNITE TO SUPPORT OPPOSITION CANDIDATE

On March 16, at its extended session, the Coordinating Committee of the Civic Initiative, a Grodno-based NGO, promoting consolidation of democratic forces in the Region, decided to set up initiative groups in all Belarusian regions to support Semyon Domash, a deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet, chair of the Grodno Initiative and the Coordination Council of Belarusian Regions, and a potential opposition candidate to challenge Lukashenko in the forthcoming presidential election. (Belapan, March 17)

NGOs CONDEMN LUKASHENKO'S DECREE ON FOREIGN AID

On March 16, all the largest Belarusian human rights organizations, including the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Viasna Human Rights Center, Charter 97, the Public Legal Aid Association, the Human Rights Center, and the Legal Initiative, issued a joint statement expressing concerns about the regime's continuous violation of basic human rights and freedoms in the country. The statement criticizes a recent Lukashenko's decree titled "Several Measures on Improving Distribution and Use of Foreign Humanitarian Aid," which virtually banned foreign donations to NGOs that are involved in any political activities. The statement points out that the decree violates fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Belarusian Constitution and appears to be part of a pattern of harassment of human rights groups in Belarus that are outspoken and uncompromising in advocating human rights protection. This is in gross violation of the commitments undertaken by Belarus to uphold international standards for freedom of speech and assembly, and also the right to know and act upon ones rights within the OSCE framework, and Belarus commitment to uphold the principles of the Defenders Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly.

The League notes that currently the activities of Belarusian NGOs are financed by four major sources: NGO members and their voluntary fees; direct partner cooperation with foreign NGOs through unification of human and financial resources for specific projects; financial and technical support from foreign organizations and foundations; and the provision of professional services. Nevertheless, most NGOs in Belarus rely almost exclusively on technical and financial assistance from Western governments and organizations to sustain their activities. Financial viability appears to be one of the main issues Belarusian NGOs are struggling with, primarily because of the limited diversification of available sources, the lack of information available, and deficiency of experience and knowledge of how to apply for foreign grants. The Law on Public associations does not differentiate between for-profit and non-for-profit NGOs and charitable funds. Non-profit NGOs are not granted any special tax privileges. The government has even imposed taxes on the receipt of international humanitarian aid. There are no tax incentives for contributions by private businesses to support NGOs. Government procurement opportunities for NGOs and non-for-profit organizations are nonexistent. (Belapan, March 16, ILHR)

REGIME INTENSIFIES PRE-ELECTION PROPAGANDA IN PROVINCES

In blatant violation of the principle of the separation of powers between the legislature, judiciary, and executive branch, the Justice department of the Mogilev Regional Council sent out a circular ordering the heads of the district courts and prosecutors' offices to instruct the staff in government policies regarding forthcoming presidential election, explain the government's key role in cultural development of the nation and its tremendous success in protecting of fundamental human rights and freedoms, reported Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC). The BHC considers the document an undisguised attempt to use of the governmental apparatus in pre-election agitation in favor of the current authorities. (BHC, March 21)

OSCE REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF MEDIA TO VISIT BELARUS

Freimut Duve, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of Media, is to visit Belarus the last week of April. The OSCE continues to be concerned about the situation with the media in Belarus and stands ready to assist the country in fulfilling its commitments including free flow of information, non-discrimination of independent media, the elimination of censorship and equal access to information, especially in light of the upcoming presidential elections. (OSCE, March 21)

--CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS-

March 25 - Opposition to mark the founding in 1918 of the Belarusian National Republic

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

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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 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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