INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 4, No. 25
June 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

- Presidential Elections News
- Professors Sentenced to 8 Years on Bribery Charges
- Belarusian Investigators Flee to U.S.
- Four Zubr Activists Face Trial for Political Graffiti
- Local Opposition Leader Fined
- Trade Union Leader Concerned About Personal Safety
- Lukashenko Parliament Approves Decree No. 11
- Human Rights NGO Denied Registration
- Journalist Summoned to KGB Office for Interrogation
- Police Search Office of Independent Newspaper
- Article 19 Reps Denied Visas
- OSCE Concerned About Continuous Harassment of Media
- Inviolability of Home Does Not Exist in Belarus
- Regime is Losing Drug War

-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS NEWS-

U.S. URGES BELARUSIAN AUTHORITIES TO HOLD FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS

On June 14, during a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Josiah B. Rosenblatt, deputy chief of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE, said that upcoming presidential elections offer Belarus an opportunity to end its self-imposed isolation and return to its proper place in the Euro-Atlantic community. However, in order for this to happen the elections must meet international norms for free and fair vote, he said. "Free and fair elections consist of more than unhindered voting. There must also be an election campaign free of harassment and intimidation by the state power," Rosenblatt said. The Belarusian authorities must release political prisoners Andrei Klimov and Valery Shchukin, both 13th Supreme Soviet deputies; account for missing Yury Zakharenko, former Minister of Internal Affairs; Victor Gonchar, 13th Supreme Soviet deputy chair, and his associate Anatoly Krasovsky; and Dmitry Zavadsky, ORT cameraman. They also need to end the harassment of parties and NGOs, and allow the full and unhindered exercise of the freedom of assembly. The Belarusian authorities also need to invite representatives of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to observe the elections and to begin to cooperate with the OSCE AMG and the NGO community in organizing a network of non-partisan observers that have free and unrestricted access to all parts of the electoral process, including all phases of counting and transportation of ballots. The commissions must be open to significant representation of all political parties and candidates, including those in opposition, said Rosenblatt.

"All candidates, including those from the opposition, must have equal and significant access to the state media. The electoral process itself needs to be fair, transparent, and democratic. Arbitrary disqualification of candidates on the basis of trivial technicalities, as was the practice in the October 2000 parliamentary elections, will undermine confidence in these elections," Rosenblatt added. "The U.S. joins the EU in its readiness to move toward normalizing relations with Belarus if the presidential election is free and fair," he concluded. The full text of Rosenblatt's statement can be found at: http://usinfo.state.gov

U.S.: OSCE'S CRITERIA ARE KEY TO OPEN ELECTIONS

On June 15, Philip T. Reeker, deputy U.S. State Department spokesman, said that the United States has consistently supported democratic development in Belarus, and is prepared to work with Belarusians of all political groupings, both bilaterally and through the OSCE, to promote free and fair elections. "Key to an open electoral campaign and process are the criteria set forth by the OSCE last year and Belarus's Copenhagen Document commitments. These criteria include an end to the climate of fear, equal access to the state media for all candidates, respect for freedom of assembly, as well as transparency and fairness in registration of candidates and functioning of electoral commissions," Reeker said. He once again expressed the United States' full support of the OSCE AMG in Belarus and the ODIHR as they work to lay the groundwork for the democratic elections. "There are many democracy and human rights issues that separate the United States and Belarus, including the unexplained disappearances of opposition political figures over the past two years. Free and fair presidential elections would be an important first step toward addressing these very serious concerns," Reeker said. (USIA, June 18)

CENTRAL COMMISSION FOR ELECTIONS REGISTERS 22 INITIATIVE GROUPS

On June 20, the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda issued a statement saying that it has received 26 applications from groups who intend to nominate candidates for the country's September 9 presidential race. Aleksey Lyashko, director of Lipen, a Gomel-based private company; Vladimir Laptsevich, a pensioner; Alexander Batura, a businessman; and Nina Lobanova, a librarian of the Belarusian State Economic University, were denied registration due to some violations of the Electoral Code. They have the right to appeal the Commission's decision to the Supreme Court within three days. Following is a list of 22 candidates whose initiative groups received their registration certificate (the number in brackets indicates how many people will collect signatures for the nomination of the given candidate):

Sergei Antonchyk, leader of Workers' Self-Aide, an unregistered organization (1,155);

Mikhail Chigir, Former Prime Minister (1,485);

Yury Dankov, businessman, member of the Minsk City Soviet (244);

Semyon Domash, a deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet, chair of the Grodno Initiative and the Coordination Council of Belarusian Regions (3,753);

Sergei Gaidukevich, chair of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus [Belarusian variant of Zhirinovsky's ill-named LDP of Russia-Ed.] (2,136);

Vladimir Goncharik, chair of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (4,054);

Leonid Kalugin, executive director of Atlant, Minsk-based refrigerator plant (120);

Sergey Kalyakin, leader of the Party of Communists of Belarus (2,076);

Konstantin Kononovich, unemployed engineer (142);

Pavel Kozlovsky, former Defense Minister (1,609);

Evgeny Kryzhanovsky, director of Khristophor, Minsk-based theater (134);

Valery Levonevsky, a member of the Council of the Free Trade Union of Entrepreneurs (356);

Alexander Lukashenko, current Belarusian president (3,830);

Mikhail Marinich, Belarusian ambassador to Latvia, Estonia and Finland (806); [On June 16, Mikhail Khvostov, Belarusian Foreign Minister, granted Amb. Marinich a leave of absence. -Ed.]

Natalya Masherova, member of the House of Representatives (1,281);

Nikolai Mekeko, human rights activist (135);

Zyanon Paznyak, exiled leader of the Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front (1,429);

Valentin Semak, businessman, former KGB officer (300);

Leonid Sinitsyn, former head of the presidential administration (1,973);

Sergei Skrebets, member of the House of Representatives, lower chamber of the National Assembly [Lukashenko's hand-picked parliament-Ed.], director of BelBabayevskoye, trading house (170);

Viktor Tereshchenko, 13th Supreme Soviet deputy and director of the Minsk-based private International Institute of Management (6,069);

Alexander Yaroshuk, leader of the Trade Union of Agro-industrial Workers (1,209).

Under current law, candidates for presidency can be nominated by initiative groups of at least 100 people, who until July 21 must gather at least 100,000 signatures to put their candidate on the ballot. (Belapan, June 20)

OPPOSITION PARTIES DENIED SEATS IN ELECTION COMMISSIONS

On June 19, Vyacheslav Sivchik, deputy chair of the Belarusian Popular Front, told Belapan that not a single person had been selected from the list of 600 opposition activists from ten political parties and organizations, among whom the authorities had to choose opposition representatives to sit on the election commissions at all levels to ensure a free and democratic vote. "The worst expectations that the regime will resort to large-scale election fraud have been confirmed," Sivchik commented.

The same day, Lydia Yermoshina, chair of the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda, told journalists that there is nothing she can do in order to provide the representatives of political parties with seats in the election commissions. "It is not me who forms the election commissions," Yermoshina said, adding that the Central Commission will interfere in the process only if it receives complaints that the law has been broken during the comissions' formation. (Belapan, June 19-21)

POTENTIAL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES CALL ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

On June 19, Leonid Sinitsyn, former head of the presidential administration and potential presidential candidate, called on international organizations and Russia to use their political influence to bring the current election process in Belarus into line with international standards. "Despite their promises to make the presidential election transparent and fair, the Belarusian authorities violated the principles of transparency and democracy during the composition of electoral commissions," Sinitsyn said in a statement, adding that not a single representative of opposition political parties, with the exception of some members of the Belarusian Liberal Democratic Party, has been included in the local election commissions. The candidate expressed doubt that this fall presidential election would be able to meet OSCE standards for a free and democratic ballot. "The Lukashenko government is afraid of fair and transparent elections because it realizes that it cannot win without large-scale falsification," Sinitsyn said.

Semyon Domash, a deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet, chair of the Grodno Initiative and the Coordination Council of Belarusian Regions, stated that the authorities' refusal to include the opposition members in the election commissions proves that the regime does not want to establish an effective system of monitoring of the counting of votes during the elections or to hold the vote in accordance with international standards. The potential candidate called on the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda and local authorities to strictly abide by the Belarusian legislation and to stop forming the election commissions "behind closed doors."

On June 21, at a joint session of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee and the Vitebsk City Council, Galina Boreiko, chair of the Vitebsk branch of the Party of Communists of Belarus (PCB) in opposition to Lukashenko, was appointed to one of the city's district election commissions, replacing Lubov Yakovitskaya, a railroad employee, who withdrew from the commission for family reasons. (Belapan, June 19-21)

LUKASHENKO LEAVES MOSCOW WITHOUT PUTIN'S ENDORSEMENT

On June 20, during a meeting in Kremlin, Alexander Lukashenko appealed to Russian president Vladimir Putin to back his re-election bid. Journalists in Minsk and Moscow are now hinting that Lukashenko has been unnerved by Putin's refusal so far to back his re-election drive and by the time allotted by Russian television to the other candidates in the race. "Do Not Forget To Switch off the television -- Lukashenko Will Ask Putin to Rein in Russia's channels" during the coverage of the Belarusian ballot, Vremya Novostei, a Russian daily, quipped in a headline [referring to the warning posted on tv screens at the end of the broadcast day-Ed.]. According to local observers, the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow was ordered to begin preparing Lukashenko's visit immediately after ORT aired programs featuring the five leading opposition candidates (Mikhail Chigir, Pavel Kozlovsky, Vladimir Goncharik, Semyon Domash, and Sergey Kalyakin), the newspaper said.

But government sources in Moscow said that amid reports that Lukashenko may be linked to the disappearance of his prominent political opponents and journalist Dmitry Zavadsky, the Belarusian leader left Moscow without winning Putin's endorsement of his bid for re-election in September. "The Russian government has said several times that it has no intention of getting involved in the internal affairs of Belarus," RIA Novosti, the Russian state-run news agency, reported on June 20. "At the same time, Moscow thinks that these elections should not lead to the further isolation of Belarus, but instead create the conditions for the country's rapid integration into Europe," the agency said.

Hours before his departure from Moscow, Lukashenko vehemently denied that he had asked Putin for an endorsement, or that he was keen to win favorable coverage of the campaign from Russian television. "I have never discussed the election campaign with anyone before," Lukashenko told reporters before meeting on June 21 with Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet president. "The only thing we discussed with Putin was the question of Russia and other former Soviet states sending election observers," he said. "I do not need anyone's support in the elections, except for the Belarusian people's," he added.

"President Lukashenko was poorly received -- and he may be completely banished" by the Russian political establishment, Kommersant Daily, a Russian independent newspaper, said in a banner headline. "After a meeting with Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko must have understood that Moscow is in no hurry to provide him support," the paper added. Other observers noted that the Putin administration, while keen to distance itself from the scandals surrounding Lukashenko's presidency, understands that the Belarusian leader remains the election front-runner.

The Russian factor will play the deciding role in the Belarus elections," reported Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Russian newspaper. The paper suggested that the Kremlin is studying the prospects of backing Natalya Masherova, the daughter of Peter Masherov, a prominent Communist Party boss who was killed in a traffic accident. She is seen as the most likely candidate to slip into a second-round runoff against Lukashenko, although her political and economic views are not entirely clear. (RIA Novosti/ Vremya Novostei/ Kommersant Daily/ Nezavisimaya Gazeta, June 20-21)

-HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS--

PROMINENT PROFESSORS SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON FOR BRIBERY

On June 18, the Military Collegium [a panel of judges dealing with high ranking officers, including those in the reserves] of the Belarusian Supreme Court sentenced Yuri Bandazhevsky, rector of the Gomel State Medical Institute, and his deputy, Vladimir Revkov, each to eight years in a hard-labor colony with confiscation of property under Art. 430, par. 2 of the Belarusian Penal Code for taking bribes from college applicants. Both scientists were barred from holding executive positions within 5 years after serving the prison term. Revkov was also deprived of a military rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of Medical Troops in Reserve.

Prof. Bandazhevsky was brought to the final court hearing, which lasted about 15 minutes, by border guards, who kept him in custody since June 10, when he was detained while allegedly attempting to illegally cross the Belarusian-Ukrainian border at the Novaya Guta crossing point under the name of Ukrainian national Ivan Kryachkov. Three Ukrainian citizens, who accompanied him in two cars, are still held in custody. The Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk has not made any efforts to help them. Bandazhevsky's wife, Galina, told journalists in Gomel that her husband fell victim to a well-prepared provocation, carried out by the secret services.

Bribe-taking in exchange for college admission is common in the post-Soviet states, where university employees must survive on small salaries and often take advantage of their positions. Established academics are rarely touched by such allegations, however. The criminal case against Bandazhevsky and Prof. Vladimir Revkov, his former deputy, who have been studying radiation problems, was initiated in July 1999. Revkov was the first one to be arrested; Bandazhevsky was charged on the basis of Revkov's testimony, which the former deputy rector later retracted. The Belarusian human rights activists say the case against two prominent radiation specialists is connected to their frequent public criticism of the Lukashenko government's policy in the areas that were contaminated as a result of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The European Union's leadership announced its decision to consider Prof. Bandazhevsky a prisoner of conscience.

Nasha Svaboda, an independent newspaper, reported on June 18 that Professor Alexander Davoina, deputy director of the Belarusian Institute of Radiation, was recently attacked by unknown individuals near his home and suffered numerous bruises. The focus of Prof. Davoina's academic inquiry is control of the radiation level in food produced in the contaminated areas. (Belapan/ Nasha Svaboda/ Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, June 18- 20)

BELARUSIAN INVESTIGATORS FLEE TO U.S.

On June 20, Oleg Volchek, head of the Public Legal Aid Association, a human rights NGO recently denied national registration by the Belarusian Ministry of Justice, told a news conference in Minsk that Dmitry Petrushkevich and Oleg Sluchek, two investigators from the Prosecutor General's Office, who have accused the Lukashenko regime of forming a death squad to murder its political opponents, were granted political asylum in the United States. Volchek said that earlier this year, the deaths of two otherwise healthy prosecutors involved in the investigation into the disappearance of Dmitry Zavadsky, ORT cameraman, and a witness in the case, made the two investigators fear for their lives. Volchek told journalists that he and two members of his organization escorted Petrushkevich and Sluchek over the border with Poland at the end of May and that the two investigators asked for asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw. "They crossed the border observing all border and customs procedures. Nobody did anything illegal," Volchek said. The human rights activist said he receives regular threats and that he called the news conference in a bid to protect himself through publicity. "It may be possible that Oleg Bozhelko, former Prosecutor General, and Vladimir Matskevich, former KGB chief, who currently live in Moscow, will also make public some facts about political disappearances," he added. [On June 21, Russkoye Radio and Radio Racyja reported of Bozhelko's sudden disappearance. However, his wife Margarita assured journalists of Narodnaya Volya, an independent newspaper, that her husband is sound and well. Volchek has also been reported as missing several times but the League confirmed that he was safe--Ed.].

AFP reported that on June 19, Richard Boucher, U.S. State Department spokesman, said the investigators' claims "give further urgency to the need to clear up the fate of the disappeared and to bring those responsible to justice." "The Belarusian authorities need to account for these people in order to dispel the current climate of fear and to create an atmosphere conducive to free and fair presidential elections on September 9," he said. Boucher, citing privacy concerns as well as a policy of not discussing political asylum cases, would not comment on the asylum claim. He said that Washington has long been critical of Lukashenko and his policies which US officials have branded undemocratic and the information provided by Petrushkevich and Sluchek added significantly to concerns that upcoming presidential elections would be tainted.

On June 16, an interview given by the investigators was aired by NTV, Russia's independent television channel. The Belarusian authorities threatened the former investigators with legal prosecution for divulging secret information from the investigation.

On June 20, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) urged Viktor Sheiman, Prosecutor General, and Vladimir Naumov, Interior Minister, to provide public explanations about the fate of vanished politicians and the journalist Zavadsky. (Belapan/ Radio Racyja/ AFP/ BAJ/ Nezavisimaya Gazeta/ Narodnaya Volya, June 18-20)

FOUR ZUBR ACTIVISTS TO STAND TRIAL FOR POLITICAL GRAFFITI

Anatoly Elizar, Sergei Koktysh and Alexander Ermakov, students of the department of journalism at the Belarusian State University, as well as Aleksey Shidlovski, a student at the private Institute of Modern Knowledge, who were arrested on January 26, 2001, near the Partizanski District Council of Minsk on charges of writing anti-Lukashenko graffiti and pasting "Zubr" stickers on walls, are to stand trial in mid-July. The youths are facing criminal charges under Art. 341 of the Belarusian Criminal Code (desecration and damage to property), an offence punishable by up to three months in jail.

The criminal charges against Aleksey Shidlovski, Timofei Dranchuk, Dmitry Drapochko, and Ales Apranich, all members of the youth movement Zubr, who were arrested on April 5 for allegedly writing the graffiti on the walls of the Minsk refrigerator factory at 65 Timiryazeva Street saying "Where is Gonchar? Where is Zavadsky? Where is Zakharenko?" regarding the disappearance of prominent figures, has been dropped for the lack of evidence of crime. For more information see: http://www.zubr-belarus.com/

LOCAL OPPOSITION LEADER FINED

Vladimir Pleschenko, chair of the Vitebsk branch of the Belarusian Popular Front Conservative Christian Party (BPF-CCP) led by Zyanon Paznyak, was charge with "repeated participation in mass actions that violated public order" under Art. 167, par. 1, part 2, of the Administrative Offenses Code and fined 150 minimal wages (about $640), reported Radio Racyja. The judge ignored the defendant's explanations that his activities (distribution of opposition printed materials) can not be considered an unauthorized picketing, and based his ruling on testimonies provided by the policemen. (Radio Racyja, June 18)

TRADE UNION LEADER CONCERNED ABOUT PERSONAL SAFETY

On June 17, Gennady Bykov, chair of the Independent Trade Union of Belarus, sent a letter to Viktor Sheiman, Belarusian Prosecutor General, and Vladimir Naumov, Interior Minister, asking them to take measures to ensure his personal safety and to give him permission to carry a gun for self-defense, reported Belapan. The trade union leader wrote that on June 1, when he was waiting for a bus to return home from a reception at the Italian embassy in Minsk, he saw a man who audaciously videotaped him. He is afraid that ahead of the presidential elections the regime is ready to take any measures to neutralize its political opponents, including its favorite - kidnapping. (Belapan, June 17)

LUKASHENKO PARLIAMENT APPROVES DECREE No. 11

On June 20, by a vote of 56 to 15, members of the House of Representatives, lower house of the Belarusian National assembly approved Lukashenko's Decree #11 "On Certain Measures to Improve Procedures of Holding Meetings, Rallies, Street Processions, Demonstrations, other Massive Actions and Picketing." The decree imposes severe restrictions on freedom of assembly on the pretext of assuring public order and safety. (Sovetskaya Belorussiya, June 21)

HUMAN RIGHTS NGO DENIED REGISTRATION

The Belarusian Ministry of Justice has denied registration to a new human rights organization called Helsinki-XXI [21st Century], reported Radio Racyja. Valery Filipov, head of the new NGO, intends to appeal the ministry's decision to the Supreme Court. The organization was established in September 2000, when 25 members of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC), a Minsk-based NGO affiliated with the International Helsinki Federation, including Yury Khadyka, deputy chair of the BPF Adradzhenne, Alexander Potupa, vice-president of the Belarusian Association of Entrepreneurs, Vladimir Khalip and Yury Khashchevatsky, both prominent Belarusian filmmakers, terminated their membership, accusing BHC's leadership of pursuing personal political ambitions and having discredited the organization by deciding to run for the Belarusian National Assembly last fall. (Radio Racyja, June 22)

JOURNALIST SUMMONED TO KGB OFFICE FOR INTERROGATION

On June 20, four KGB officers searched the home, garage, and car of Sergei Anisko, journalist and activist of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, reported Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta. The search warrant was issued by Viktor Sheiman, Belarusian Prosecutor General. The KGB was investigating allegations that in his two recent publications titled "Diamonds for Presidential Dictatorship" published by Den (Day), an independent newspaper, and "The Army of Discontented is Joined by the Military" published by Belarussky Chas (Belarusian Time), non-state newspaper, Anisko used information from secret sociological surveys. After the search, Anisko was brought to the KGB office for interrogation but refused to provide any information without first consulting legal counsel. He was issued a summons to the KGB's office for June 21.

In September, 1999, Victor Sheiman, then secretary of the Belarusian State Security Council, filed a libel suit against Anisko and the Naviny independent newspaper, in connection to an article published in Naviny about the real estate owned by Sheiman. The Moskovski District Court of Minsk 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 (about $15,000) (Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, June 22)

POLICE SEARCH OFFICE OF INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

On June 19, employees of the State Committee for Financial Investigation conducted an unspecified examination of the printing equipment and documents of Nasha Svaboda, an independent newspaper, reported Charter 97. The law-enforcers searched the newspaper's staff members, confiscated samples of the opposition printed materials, stickers and flyers of different political parties and movements, which were stored in the newspaper's archive, and filed an official report. (Charter 97, June 20)

BELARUSIAN AUTHORITIES DENY ENTRY VISAS TO ARTICLE 19'S EXPERTS

On June 20, ARTICLE 19, a global campaign for free expression, named after Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reported that three of its London-based experts have not been granted entry visas for Belarus. They were supposed to take part in a press conference scheduled for June 21 at the Public Press Center in Minsk, which was to be the official launch in Belarus of the new ARTICLE 19 report on freedom of the media "The Mechanics of Repression: Obstacles to Free and Fair Elections in Belarus." The organization's leadership expressed hope that the visit will take place in mid-July. www.article19.org/

OSCE CONCERNED ABOUT CONTINUOUS HARASSMENT OF MEDIA IN BELARUS

On June 18, Freimut Duve, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, met with Andrei Sannikov, Former Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus and International Coordinator of Charter 97, nationwide civil initiative, to discuss the recent developments in Belarus. They talked about the raid of Nasha Svoboda by the financial police, search of the apartment of journalist Sergei Anisko, and the plight of Valery Shchukin, a deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet and a reporter for Narodnaya Volya, an opposition newspaper, who went to jail for three months on charges of "malicious hooliganism" under Art. 339, par. 1, of the Penal Code. The same day, during a meeting with Valery Lipkin, member of the National Assembly, Freimut Duve reiterated his concern about the ongoing harassment of independent media and raised the case of Shchukin. The OSCE representative said that the meeting with Lipkin should not be interpreted as any form of recognition of the National Assembly and was held only because of the need to secure the release of the imprisoned journalist. http://www.osce.org/news/generate.php3?news_id=1828

INVIOLABILITY OF HOME DOES NOT EXIST IN BELARUS

Although the Belarusian Constitution states that "no one shall have the right to enter, without legal reason, the dwelling and other legal property of a citizen against such a citizen's will," the Lukashenko government does not respect these rights in practice. On June 18, police and KGB officers conducted an unlawful search of the dormitory of the Belarusian University of Technology, and confiscated 4,000 Zubr stickers from Dmitry Golovin, Alexander Kokhovich, and Vasily Zhakov, reported Charter 97. Acting like ordinary robbers, the law-enforcers did not even bother to file a police report.

On June 16, two plain-clothed agents tried to break into apartment of Irina Baidak, a member of the Vitebsk branch of the United Civic Party, reported Radio Racyja. Irina, who also heads a local NGO which provides assistance to victims of drug abuse, identified one of the agents as an officer of the local department for combating organized crime and illegal drug-trafficking. In an effort to stop rapid expansion of underground drugs distribution network, Baidak recently published a list of the local drug dealers' trading places and demanded to introduce civil control over the police departments dealing with drug- trafficking, which caused an extremely negative reaction of the local authorities. In retaliation, they have launched a criminal investigation against her former husband and now use it to blackmail Irina and her parents. (Charter 97, June 19 - Radio Racyja, June 21)

-AT HOME IN BELARUS-

REGIME IS LOSING DRUG WAR

The Lukashenko regime has sought to justify its authoritarian approach by saying that harsh measures are required to combat the organized crime and drug trade, wrote Paul Goble, deputy director of RFE/RL, in the analytical article titled "Tough Belarus Cops Losing Drug War." But police officials in Minsk have conceded that the state's enormous police apparatus has failed to stop the traffic in illegal drugs both into and through the country. Col. Anatoly Gury, official of the Belarusian Interior Ministry, said in a recent interview that Belarus has become a major trafficking point between Central Asia and Western Europe. The price of drugs on Belarusian street continues to fall, a pattern suggesting that more drugs are now available. In 1996, for example, a gram of heroin sold for $100 but now the price has fallen to only $12, Gury said, adding that the real number of drug users in the country was closer to 40,000 than the government's official estimate of only 8,000. The situation in Belarus is a clear indication that authoritarianism by itself does not solve the problem and may actually make the problem worse, wrote Goble. The very ineffectiveness of the government's efforts against the drug trade may cause at least some Belarusians to question the justifications Lukashenko has offered in defense of his authoritarian approach, concluded Goble. (United Press International, June 20)

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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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