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Belarus Updates, 2001

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 4, No. 26
June 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

- U.S. Urges Belarusian Authorities to End Self-Isolation
- Lukashenko Continues "Non-Traditional" Election Campaign
- Authorities Form Election Commisions
- Regime to Falsify Results of Presidential Vote
- International Observers Required to Apply for Accreditation
- Candidates Ordered to Submit Income Statements
- Russian Communists to Support Lukashenko in Presidential Elections
- Case of Disappeared Journalist to Go on Trial
- Regime Steps up Campaign of Harassment Against Independent Media
- Russian Patriarch Joins Lukashenko Urging Slavs' Spiritual Renewal


-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS NEWS-

U.S. URGES BELARUSIAN AUTHORITIES TO END SELF-ISOLATION

On June 21, David T. Johnson, U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE, commended Mircea Dan Geoana, OSCE chair-in-office and Romanian Foreign Minister, for his work to achieve peaceful inter-ethnic dialogue in Macedonia and for his support of the OSCE AMG in Belarus, which will contribute to the country's domestic election observation network. Following are excerpts from his statement delivered to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna regarding Belarus:

"With regard to Belarus, we commend the Chair for its strong support of the Advisory and Monitoring Group (AMG) in Belarus under the strong leadership of Amb. Wieck."

"Presidential elections represent an opportunity for Belarus to end its self-isolation, but this can happen only if Belarus seizes the opportunity by taking concrete steps now to create conditions for free and fair elections. We urge the Chair to focus on the importance of respect for human rights to the conduct of free and fair elections. Recent allegations from former official investigators about the authorities' complicity in disappearances, including physical elimination of regime opponents, inspire real fear in Belarusian citizens."

"If Belarusian authorities are serious about creating a climate of peace they need to investigate expeditiously and thoroughly, whithout dening capriciously, these serious charges. They also need to ensure opposition members enjoy the right to assembly and access to the state media."

"Recent reports that the Belarusian authorities have refused to register any of the 600 representatives of opposition parties who applied to be members of election commissions call into question the authorities' commitment to a fair election."

"We strongly urge the Belarusian authorities to guarantee the impartiality of the commissions by ensuring that democratic parties and NGOs are represented meaningfully."

"We commend the Chair for its support of the AMG role in contributing to a domestic election observation network. We believe this work is essential and deserves the support of the Belarusian Government. Similarly, ODIHR can provide critical assistance in helping the government establish a democratic election code. We urge Belarus to invite ODIHR now to observe these elections so appropriate preparations can begin immediately." (USIA, June 21)

LUKASHENKO CONTINUES "NON-TRADITIONAL" ELECTION CAMPAIGN

On June 22, during a reception held for a group of Belarusian and Russian journalists, Alexander Lukashenko said that he has nothing to hide and offered to order exhumations at the Northern Cemetery in Minsk, where Dmitry Petrushkevich and Oleg Sluchek, two investigators who publicly accused the Lukashenko regime of forming a death squad to murder its political opponents, said the victims were buried after being abducted and killed. "We are not concealing anything and are ready to conduct an exhumation," the Belarusian said, adding that he wants to do whatever possible to find the missing people. Lukashenko called an outright fabrication all allegations of his involvement in political disappearances, adding that he did expect them in the election year. The Belarusian leader seemed puzzled why the opposition considers Zavadsky dead and wondered what his political opponents will say if some of the vanished opposition leaders will reappeared ahead of the presidential elections.

The Belarusian strong man said that he is perfectly aware that the opposition presidential candidates have been paid for their election campaign handsomely and that money are supplied by the OSCE and "some embassy." He expressed confidence that the opposition would not manage to agree on a single candidate. "The single candidate is a bluff," Lukashenko said. "What could Masherova, Kalyakin, Domash, Paznyak, Goncharik, and Chigir possibly have in common?"

The Belarusian strongman seemed particularly unhappy with Natalya Masherova's and Mikhail Marinich's intention to challenge him in this fall elections. He accused Masherova of being ungrateful and defined her decision to run for presidency as a "stab in the back." According to Lukashenko, he helped Masherova, the daughter of Peter Masherov, a popular Communist Party boss who was killed in a traffic accident, to become a member of the Belarusian parliament and supported her family since 1994. He said that her participation in the election campaign "plays into the hand of this mindless pro-Western opposition" and that he is personally offended. On June 29, the rumors predicting Masherova's withdrawal from the presidential race started circulating among deputies of the Lukashenko rubber-stamp parliament. Masherova told Belapan she could "neither confirm nor refute" the rumors, adding that "the situation is more complicated than you think."

Commenting on Mikhail Marinich's intention to challenge him in the elections, Lukashenko said that the Belarusian ambassador to Latvia, Estonia and Finland was fast to forget his pledges of allegiance and loyalty to the current Belarusian president. (BBC - Nasha Svaboda -Belapan, June 25-29)

AUTHORITIES FORM ELECTION COMMISIONS

On June 25, Lydia Yermoshina, chair of the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda, told journalists that 2,179 people were selected to work in 168 territorial election commissions during this fall presidential elections. Six out of 18 political parties and 14 organizations will have their representatives in the commissions, including the Agrarian Party, the Belarusian Patriotic Party, the pro-Lukashenko Communist Party of Belarus, the Liberal-Democratic Party, the Republican Party of Labor and Justice, and the Party of Communists of Belarus in opposition to Lukashenko (one representative in Vitebsk), the Belarusian Patriotic Youth Union, a government-subsidized pro-Lukashenko youth organization, the Union of Veterans of War and Labor, the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus and other public organizations loyal to the regime.

Responding to numerous requests of the political parties, public organizations and citizens to provide their representatives with seats in the election commissions, Yermoshina reiterated that in accordance with Art. 24 and 34 of the Belarusian Electoral Code, the election commissions are formed by the local executive committees and the Central Commission will interfere in the process only if it receives complaints that the law has been broken during the comissions' formation. She added that the commissions' members were chosen by their professional qualities and previous participation in work of the election commissions. (Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, June 26)

REGIME TO FALSIFY RESULTS OF PRESIDENTIAL VOTE

On June 22, "For New Belarus," a new civil-rights movement for election of a new president, and the Five said in a joint statement that the regime's refusal to include the opposition representatives in the local election commissions only proves its intention to falsify the results of the presidential vote, as it did during the October 2000's parliamentary elections, reported Belapan. The potential candidates protested against flagrant violations of the electoral law at early stages of the presidential campaign and appealed to compatriots to exercise their constitutional right to elect a state leader every five years and decide their destiny by voting for alternative candidates.

Vyacheslav Sivchik, deputy chair of the Belarusian Popular Front and head of the Center to Promote Opposition Representatives to Election Commissions, sent an open letter to Lukashenko, Prime Minister Vladimir Yermoshin, and Mikhail Myasnikovich, head of the Lukashenko administration, condemning the authorities for deliberate mishandling of the process of setting up the regional, city and district election commissions to enjoy direct control over the entire system of the election commissions and to have a huge advantage over other candidates.

The Coordinating Committee on Observation of Elections, opposition's election watchdog organization, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, and the Center to Promote Opposition Representatives to Election Commissions, have adopted a joint statement accusing the authorities of refusing to open the territorial election commissions to representation of all political parties and candidates, including those in opposition, and violating the election law during their formation, reported Belapan. Arbitrary disqualification of the opposition representatives, lack of transparency and fairness in formation of electoral commissions prove that the regime is afraid to hold free and fair vote and will employ an army of its loyal servants with tremendous experience in the election fraud to guarantee Lukashenko's victory.

By failing to include the opposition representatives in the local election commissions, the regime violated Art. 35 of the Belarusian Electoral Code, which states that political parties and republic associations and their branches acting within the framework of the constitution and laws of the Republic of Belarus have the right to nominate their members to the election commissions, the Assembly of Democratic NGOs said in a statement. The Assembly expressed doubt that this fall presidential election would be able to meet OSCE standards for a free and democratic ballot and urged the Lukashenko government to act in a strict compliance with the law. (Belapan/ Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta/Viasna Human Rights Center, June 25- 28)

INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS REQUIRED TO APPLY FOR ACCREDITATION

On June 26, at a meeting of chairs and secretaries of the local election commissions of Mogilev Region, Nikolai Lozovik, secretary of the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda, said that a status of international observers of the presidential elections will be given only to the experts, who arrived to the country upon special invitation of the Belarusian president, the National Assembly or the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda and received the Commission's accreditation. (Narodnaya Volya, June 27)

CANDIDATES ORDERED TO SUBMIT INCOME STATEMENTS

Alexander Lukashenko has signed a decree #20 which requires each presidential candidate to submit to the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda his and his immediate relatives' income statements and property declarations, which the Commision then will have to publish in a nationwide newspaper. Members of the Lukashenko administration maintained that the decree is aimed at "ensuring transparent, free and fair elections." The submission of fraudulent information will result in cancelation of registration as a presidential candidate. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) and For New Belarus, a new civil-rights movement for election of a new president, called the decree "a paradigm of arbitrariness and lawlessness," and accused Lukashenko of abusing his powers to gain additional advantage over other candidates. The BHC demanded from the Belarusian leader to make public an information about off-budgetary funds that he established and controls. (Belapan, June 27-29)

RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS TO SUPPORT LUKASHENKO IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

On June 27, Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Russian Communist Party, told journalist in Moscow that his party and its allies would support Alexander Lukashenko in the September presidential elections in Belarus, reported Pravda, Russian daily. The Communist leader said that his party will send the observers and "do everything possible to ensure that the Belarusian citizens will have a chance to freely express their point of view," because "the strengthening of our union fatherland depends on the results of these elections." Zyuganov believes that the situation in Belarus is currently developing according to the "Yugoslavian scenario" and accused the OSCE of interfering in the republic's internal affairs. He spoke in favor of the further development of the Russia-Belarus union state and assured journalists that "the CIS integration process will gain momentum."

On June 25, speaking at news conference devoted to the fifth anniversary of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarus Union, Gennady Seleznev, speaker of the Russian Duma and chair of the Assembly, also expressed confidence in Lukashenko's resounding victory in the presidential elections, despite his opponents' futile attempts to discredit him. Speaking about Natalya Masherova, Seleznev said that she may become Lukashenko's ally. (Pravda, June 25-27)

TRADE UNION LEADER JOINS GROUP OF FIVE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES

On June 26, Alexander Yaroshuk, leader of the Trade Union of Agro-industrial Workers and potential candidate for the Belarusian presidency, announced his decision to join the five opposition candidates, Mikhail Chigir, ex-Prime Minister; Pavel Kozlovsky, former Defense Minister; Vladimir Goncharik, chair of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB); Semyon Domash, a deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet [the disbanded parliament], chair of the Grodno Initiative and the Coordination Council of Belarusian Regions; and Sergey Kalyakin, leader of the Party of Communists of Belarus (PCB) in opposition to the government; who announced their intention to unite behind the candidate with the best chances for victory, reported Belapan. Yaroshuk believes that only nomination of a single candidate gives the united democratic opposition a fair chance to win the elections. On June 27, the Five agreed that a single candidate should be named by July 15, reported Charter 97. (Belapan, June 27 - Charter 97, June 28)

BELARUSIAN JOURNALIST ATTACKED IN MOSCOW

On June 27, Igor Sinyakevich, Belarusian journalist working for TV-6, Russia's independent television channel, was brutally beaten and stabbed with a knife by two unidentified individuals in Moscow. The journalist does not exclude a possibility that his recent trip to Minsk to interview one of the opposition presidential candidates and the attack are linked to each other. (Radio Racyja, June 29)

MEMBER OF PAZNYAK'S INITIATIVE GROUP BEATEN IN MINSK

On June 26, Igor Shepelyuk, member of the initiative group of Zyanon Paznyak, exiled leader of the Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front (CCP-BPF), was attacked on the street by six unknown men and beaten, suffering numerous bruises. Along with the money and activist's pager, the attackers took the signature list and other documents related to the election campaign. The victim called the police to report the incident, but the law-enforcers hang up on him when they heard he was collecting signatures in support of the opposition candidate. Shepelyuk has filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office. (Radio Racyja, June 29)

OPPOSITION CANDIDATE'S SUPPORTERS REPORT ARBITRARY DETENTIONS

On June 27, three supporters of Semyon Domash were detained briefly in Zhodino, Minsk region. On June 29, Georgy Bakievich, head of the Domash's initiative group in Brest Region, reported repeated detentions of signature collectors in his region. He told Belapan that some group members have quit citing pressure from the authorities. Domash's group has already collected about 70,000 signatures. According to current legislation, 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. (Radio Racyja, June 29)

LUKASHENKO TO RACE ELECTION RIVALS ON SKATES

The eccentric Belarusian dictator has launched the unusual challenge after his opponents repeatedly urged him to undergo a medical examination, hinting that his often outrageous statements and actions might be explained by failing mental health. Lukashenko invited his rivals in the presidential elections to put on roller skates or roller skies for a chance to compete against him in a sporting contest scheduled for July 3. "They say that Lukashenko's health ought to be examined. Well, let us all, all 20 presidential candidates, run in that competition, and the people will see who is sick and who is not," Lukashenko told reporters. On January 12, 2001, Nasha Svaboda, an independent newspaper, published a diagnosis by psychiatrist Dmitry Schigelsky, who, after examining Lukashenko's speeches and public behavior, claimed he was a psychopath. The Belarusian Prosecutor General charged the daily with slander but the charges were later dropped. (Belapan, June 29)

MENTAL PATIENTS SUPPORT LUKASHENKO

Radio Racyja reported that the head of a local psychiatric hospital in Mogilev called on his colleagues and patients to gather signatures in support of the current Belarusian leader. Nearly every patient at the hospital was told to give his signature, nurses told reporters. The local election committee found no fault with the procedure, saying that the majority of patients are legally capable to give their support to which ever candidate they choose. (Radio Racyja, June 29)

EUROPEAN BANK THREATENS TO AXE AID TO BELARUS OVER POLL

On June 26, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) threatened to withdraw financial aid to Belarus if the presidential poll failed to meet democratic standards. "We are closely watching the electoral process," Jean Lemierre, EBRD Managing Director, told journalists on the sidelines of a session of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly. The bank has decided to stop all public financing, but will continue to support private investments, he said, adding that one of the bank's roles was to tie "the democratic process with market economics and economic democracy." (Interfax, June 26)

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS--

CASE OF DISAPPEARED JOURNALIST TO GO ON TRIAL

Alexei Taranov, head of the Prosecutor's General Office press service, told press conference in Minsk that the investigation into disappearance of Dmitry Zavadsky, ORT cameraman, is completed and in the nearest future the case will be sent to court, reported Charter 97. The Lukashenko official failed to clarify which court will consider Zavadsky's case. Local observers believe that the Belarusian Supreme Court will the case behind closed doors. It means that that the sides will not have a chance to appeal the court's decision unless serious procedural violations to be found. Rumor has it that Viktor Sheiman, Prosecutor General, gathered all investigators of the Belarusian Prosecutor's General Office who has been working on the case and threatened to harshly punish anyone who will dare to follow in footsteps of "traitors" Petrushkevich and Sluchek. (Charter 97, June 29)

REGIME STEPS UP CAMPAIGN OF HARASSMENT AGAINST INDEPENDENT MEDIA

The authorities continue to keep up economic pressure on the independent media. In violation of the Art. 25 of the law "On Press and Other Media," which stipulates that "selling an edition of periodical printed materials by retail shall not be subject to limitations," Belpochta [Belarusian Post Service], a state-owned monopoly, refused to include Borisovskie Novosti (Borisov News), local independent newspaper with circulation of 15,000 copies, in the subscription lists of the post offices for second half of the year 2001, although the paper had paid the listing fee for. Anatoly Bukas, newspaper's editor-in-chief, said that the local authorities refuse to re-register the paper and prohibited local grocery stores from distributing it. In March, 2001, the State Committee for Financial Investigation and the Borisov city tax inspection conducted an unspecified examination of the printing equipment and documents of Borisovskie Novosti, confiscated cash book and some other accounging documents, and filed an official report. Bukas links the inspection and the failure to include the paper in the subscription lists 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. (Viasna Human Rights Center, June 29)

TWO LOCAL ZUBR ACTIVISTS BEATEN BY FASCISTS

On June 21, Tatiana and Marina Yasyuk, both members of the Borisov branch, Minsk Region, of the youth movement Zubr, were attacked at night by teenage members of the Russian National Unity (RNU), a Russian nationalistic movement, reported Viasna Human Rights Center. The girls filed a complaint with local police. In retaliation, at approximately 10:00 p.m. on June 23, Tatiana, 16, was beaten unconscious and suffered severe bodily injures. (Viasna Human Rights Center, June 27)

ZUBR ACTIVISTS AROUSE CONSCIENCE OF MINSK POLICE

On June 28-29, seventeen Zubr activists were detained in Minsk while distributing a special issue of Nasha Svaboda, an independent newspaper, dedicated to the forthcoming presidential elections. The issue also contained an interview with 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. Instead of filling police reports, confiscating copies of the newspaper, and charging the activists with common in this case "violation of rules of public sanitation" under Art. 143, par 3 of the Belarusian Administrative Code, the law-enforcers demonstrated genuine interest in the paper's contents and asked for extra copies to "share with colleagues." http://www.zubr-belarus.com/

PA AD HOC WORKING GROUP ON BELARUS TO VISIT MINSK

Urban Ahlin (MP, Sweden) and Uta Zapf (MP, Germany), two members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Ad hoc Working Group on Belarus, will visit Minsk on June 30-July 2. The delegation plans to meet with representatives of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Administration, members of the National Assembly, deputies of the disbanded by Lukashenko 13th Supreme Soviet, representatives of the Advisory Council of Opposition Political Parties, the Belarusian media, human rights groups and diplomatic missions.
(OSCE, June 28)


-AT HOME IN BELARUS-

RUSSIAN PATRIARCH JOINS LUKASHENKO URGING SLAVS' SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

On June 27, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexis II and Alexander Lukashenko urged Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians to remain united in the Orthodox faith to resist Western expansion and the temptation of division and discord on religious, ethnic and political grounds, reported Interfax. "The Slav people would never accept the cult of force, of self-destruction, of lack of morals that permeates the Western way of life, which they are trying to impose on us," they said, adding that "the Slavs must understand that without Orthodoxy they will no longer be themselves." The union of Russia and Belarus may serve as an example of Slavic fraternity, Lukashenko and Alexis II said in a joint statement. The Russian Orthodox Church retains its unity despite the borders dividing the three countries, said the patriarch. It has always backed the Russia-Belarus Union and we shall keep supporting initiatives conducive to unification, he added. The call came as Pope John Paul II finished a five day visit to Ukraine amid allegations that Catholics were proselytizing in the heartland of the Orthodox faith.

Lukashenko handed over to Alexis II the gold- and silver-thread banners, embellished with enameling and precious stones, which cost 118.4 million BYR (about $85,000) allocated from the presidential reserve fund, for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. "The warmth of the Belarusian people's attitudes means a major inspiration to my heart," said Alexis II on his departure from Belarus. In his return, the patriarch decorated Leonid Yerin, chair of the Committee for State Security (KGB), and some other high-ranking KGB officials with the Order of Apostle Grand Duke Vladimir for "decisive implementation of the Belarusian government's policy of spiritual development of the nation."

[According to the Belarusian State Committee on Religions and Nationalities, as of January 1, 2000, over 2,500 religious communities and parishes belonging to different confessions were registered in Belarus. Among them were 1,139 Russian Orthodox, 862 Protestant, 405 roman Catholic, several Uniate, Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim communities. The Belarusian Constitution provides for a multi-confessional state and a neutral attitude towards all registered denominations acting within the framework of the legislation. This, however has not stopped the Lukashenko government from strongly supporting the Belarus Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church and restricting the activities of Protestants, Catholics, and other minorities.-Ed.]. (Interfax, June 27)

HOW LUKASHENKO CARES ABOUT BELARUSIAN KIDS

About 30,000 Belarusian children live in homes for the disabled and other orphanages. The institutions are poorly funded, and few can afford to buy diapers or decent clothes. The forgotten children of the Cherven orphanage are luckier then others because they are often visited by Brother Liam O'Meara, head of the Burren Chernobyl Project, Ireland-based NGO, which began providing aid to Belarusians after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The institution, which is a little over 70 kilometers (40 miles) from Minsk, is home to 250 children, more than twice the number it was built for. Surrounded by concrete walls with peeling green paint, the children, ages 4 to 18, with Down syndrome and other disabilities are given scant attention and stimulation, practically never have a chance to function independently. Only 20 of them are considered intelligent enough to attend the orphanage's school. In the orphanage's "lying-down" room, about 25 severely disabled children have never been taught to walk and are confined to their cots. Few of them are capable of saying their names or eating without assistance. The sharp smell of urine pervades the room, where boys and girls of all ages are kept together. The older boys wear rough wool coats discarded by the army. Some of the aid sent by the Irish volunteers never seemed to reach the children. Yevgeny Mitsut, employee of the Belarusian Social Welfare Ministry, acknowledged that some aid is stolen by orphanage workers, who are paid the equivalent of $20-30 a month. (Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, June 6)

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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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