INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

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BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 4, No. 27
July 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

- Lukashenko's Challenger Pulls Out of Race
- BHC Accuses Authorities of Violating Electoral Code
- United Civic Party Urges Opposition to Nominate Single Candidate
- Lukashenko Warns of Western Threat in Military Parade Address
- Seven Days in Prison for Throwing Tomato at Dictator
- Four People to Stand Trial for Murder of Dmitry Zavadsky
- Wives of Missing Public Figures Start Campaign
- Belarus Seat at OSCE PA Will Remain Vacant
- Duma Calls on PACE to Resume Special Guest Status for Belarus
- Police Attempt Break-In of Home of Independent Newspaper Editor
- Imprisoned 13th Supreme Soviet Deputy Denied Meeting With Priest
- Former Gay Club Director Tortured to Death
- Former Lukashenko Aide Seeks Political Asylum in Germany
- Cases Against Distributors of Protestant Newspaper Dropped

-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION NEWS-

LUKASHENKO'S CHALLENGER PULLS OUT OF RACE

Natalya Masherova, 55, member of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, who was seen by many as the most likely candidate to slip into a second-round runoff against Lukashenko in the September elections, has withdrawn from the race, reported Belapan. Nikolai Lozovik, secretary of the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda, informed journalists on July 5 that the request for withdrawal was sent to the Commission by Andrei Khmelnitsky, Masherova's campaign manager. Masherova is one of two daughters of Pyotr Masherov, a prominent Communist Party boss who was killed in 1980 when his limousine collided with a truck. He enjoyed broad popularity in Belarus, and there were speculations that the accident was a Kremlin-ordered set-up. The Russian media suggested that the Kremlin was studying the prospects of endorsing Masherova's bid. Her withdrawal followed sharp criticism from Lukashenko, who reproached her as "ungrateful." Now, the current Belarusian leader is facing 20 other candidates. All are required to collect 100,000 supporters signatures to be registered for the race.

On July 5, Masherova told Belapan that she had decided to withdraw from the presidential race because she did not believe that the election would be fair. "Many provisions of electoral legislation prevent the election process from being fair," she said. Masherova urged the other potential candidates not to waste their time on useless confrontation and to consolidate their efforts to improve the situation in the country. She also called on her fellow citizens to take an active part in the vote.

Masherova's decision to withdraw from the race came as a complete surprise to her campaign manager. Khmelnitsky said that the initiative group would have certainly succeeded in collecting the required 100,000 signatures for her registration as a candidate. Alexander Lukashenko found it difficult to express his attitude toward Masherova's withdrawal. "To make an assessment, one should know the reasons, but I do not know them," the Belarusian leader told reporters in Minsk. Other contenders, including Sergei Kalyakin, leader of the Party of Communists of Belarus (PCB), Gen. Pavel Kozlovsky, former Defense Minister, Alexander Yaroshuk, leader of the Trade Union of Agro-industrial Workers, believe that Masherova had pulled out as a result of enormous pressure from the authorities.

According to a survey of the Belarusian public opinion conducted by the Minsk-based Independent Institute for Socioeconomic and Political Studies, 17% of Belarusians would give Masherova their votes, while 44% plan to vote for the current Belarusian president, 17% - for ex-Prime Minister Mikhail Chigir, 12% -for Semyon Domash, a deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet, chair of the Grodno Initiative and the Coordination Council of Belarusian Regions, 10% - for Vladimir Goncharik, chair of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, and 6% - for Gen. Pavel Kozlovsky, former Defense Minister. Only 46% of Belarusians believe that the presidential election will be free and fair. (Belapan/Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta, July 4-5)

BHC ACCUSES AUTHORITIES OF VIOLATING ELECTORAL CODE

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) issued a statement urging the Council of Ministers to revoke its unlawful order to the regional executive authorities to set up special groups that will deal with organizing and coordinating the election process in provinces. The BHC notes that Art. 27 of the Electoral Code delegates the function of organizing presidential elections to the election commissions, not to the executive authorities, and insists that the formation of the executive's election groups means that the Belarusian leader is taking advantage of his official position to ensure his re-election, an offense punishable under the Criminal Code. (Belapan, July 4)

UNITED CIVIC PARTY URGES OPPOSITION TO NOMINATE SINGLE CANDIDATE

The Political Council of the United Civic Party (UCP) urged potential democratic candidates to nominate a single candidate for the presidency to fight against the anti-democratic electoral system established by Lukashenko. The party believes that it is possible to appoint one presidential candidate for whom the united opposition should campaign. If the procedure of selecting a single candidate is not established by July 15, the UCP threatened to recall its members from the initiative groups of Mikhail Chigir, Semyon Domash, Vladimir Goncharik, Sergei Kalyakin and Pavel Kozlovsky and to deny any kind of support to these candidates. If the challengers of the incumbent ruler fail to come to terms, the UCP suggested that a special electoral college should name the single candidate on the basis of public-opinion polls, the hopefuls' ratings, and the efficiency of the signature-collection campaigns. (UCP Press service, July 4)

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS--

LUKASHENKO WARNS OF WESTERN THREAT IN MILITARY PARADE ADDRESS

On July 3, addressing a celebration parade held in Minsk on the occasion of the Independence Day and the country's liberation from Nazi occupation in 1944, Alexander Lukashenko said the holiday symbolizes the nation's spiritual consolidation and its social and political unity, reported Interfax. As tanks with recently reinstated Soviet-style red stars trundled past, Lukashenko said that he would do all he could to strengthen the country's defense. "The fate of Belarus and the Belarusians hangs on the balance. We thought that the 21st century will be peaceful, but we were wrong," he said. "The international situation forces us to have a well-trained army," he continued, assuring the compatriots that "the republic has maneuverable and well-managed armed forces, sufficiently equipped with everything they need." "Events in the Balkans show that some countries haven't learned lessons drawn from the Second World War," he said in reference to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. [In later June, Lukashenko and the Russian leadership denounced the transfer of Slobodan Milosevic, former Yugoslav president, to the UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.- Ed.]. "Former allies of the Soviet Union against the Nazis are seeking to drag the world community into a new arms race. Some states are using the dictate of force and bombs to impose their own geo-political interests," he said in a clear allusion to the United States and its proposed anti-missile defense shield. Standing on a podium beneath a Belarusian flag and addressing a group of World War Two veterans, Lukashenko drew a parallel between the defeat of the Nazis and resisting what he sees as Western interference. "It is not enough to defeat an enemy in an open fight, you also have to know how not to lose the fruits of victory, how not to give in to desecration and shame," he said. "We want every state to have the right to live independently." Lukashenko said that Belarus needs a union with Russia to safeguard its independence and stable development.

Russian president Vladimir Putin sent a short letter to the Belarusian leader, congratulating him on the occasion of the country's Independence Day, where he emphasized the necessity to adherence to the universal principles of freedom and democracy as an inalienable attribute of the nation's development. He did not mention the forthcoming presidential elections, hinting once again that he wants to distance himself from the scandals surrounding Lukashenko's presidency.

Mikhail Chigir, former Prime Minister and proposed opposition candidate in this fall presidential elections, has declined Lukashenko's invitation to attend the military parade calling it a "dubious honor." "It will be a manifestation of weakness and readiness for absolutely any compromises if I stand next to you when my son is in jail," Chigir said, adding that he cannot find myself next to a person, who mercilessly suppresses his political opponents and uses the Independence Day as an opportunity to display his eloquence, while in reality does everything possible to deprive Belarus of its independence. The presidential candidate described the demonstration of the country's military potential as criminal because the constitution declares Belarus a neutral country. "It is inadmissible to spend more than a million dollars on a show when the country is in a deep economic crisis," he concluded.

During the celebrations, eight members of the youth movement Zubr were arrested at the intersection of the Volodarskogo Street and Skaryna Avenue in Minsk for distributing Nasha Svaboda, an independent newspaper, and stickers "Time to choose!" The activists were forced into a police vehicle and taken to the Tsentralny District Internal Affairs Directorate. No information has yet been available about the charges they may face. (Interfax-Belapan, http://www.zubr-belarus.com, July 3)

SEVEN DAYS IN PRISON FOR THROWING TOMATO AT DICTATOR

Sergei Laptev, a 45-year-old unemployed resident of Minsk, was detained for tossing a tomato at Lukashenko during a marathon organized on July 3 in Minsk, to mark the Independence Day, reported Interfax. Someone also threw a sharp object at Lukashenko and wounded him in the leg. Viasna Human Rights Center reported that the Leninski District Court of Minsk sentenced Laptev to seven days of administrative arrest for "petty hooliganism" under Art. 156 of the Administrative Offences Code. In the courtroom, Laptev confirmed the political motives of his behavior, adding that it was aimed at "reviving an ancient tradition of throwing tomatoes at bad actors." He will serve his term on the Okrestina detention center in Minsk. (Interfax/Viasna Human Rights Center, July 3-4)

FOUR PEOPLE TO STAND TRIAL FOR MURDERING DMITRY ZAVADSKY

On July 5, Vladimir Naumov, the Belarusian Interior Minister, confirmed earlier reports that the investigation into the disappearance of Dmitry Zavadsky, ORT cameraman, is completed and in the very near future, the case will be sent to court. Valery Ignatovich and Maksim Malik, both former officers of the Almaz (Diamond) Special-Assignment Police Force, Aleksey Guz, former student of the Police Academy, and Sergei Saushkin, a former convict, are accused of committing nine felonies, including the kidnapping of Zavadsky and the murder of an Azerbaijani family, reported Belapan. The details of the group's criminal activities are described in the criminal case, which consists of 38 volumes and includes 25 episodes. In the course of the investigation, about 170 expert examinations were conducted and over 1,000 witnesses were questioned. The body of Zavadsky has not yet been produced, although independent reports, including from two prosecutors who fled Belarus last month telling everything they knew about the case, indicate Zavadsky was buried in the vicinity of the Northern Cemetery after being murdered by a government-run death squad.

The official investigators insist, however, that the case is not politically motivated and that the journalist was kidnapped in revenge for filming a documentary in December 1999 about the Belarusian military servicemen who trained Chechen rebels. (The two prosecutors associated with the case who fled Belarus supplied additional information, that the prosecution was pursing the theory that Ignatovich killed Zavadsky in revenge for Zavadsky's alleged hint in an interview with Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta that Ignatovich supposedly fought on the side of the Chechens, a claim rebutted by additional evidence in possession off the prosecution, including photos of Ignatovich atop a Russia armored personnel carrier--Ed.). According to the investigators, while on an assignment in Chechnya, Zavadsky happened to shoot some footage of the detention of Ignatovich at a military checkpoint, which was later shown on Russian TV. Ivan Branchel, head of a team investigating Zavadsky's disappearance, said that he cannot say for sure what happened to Zavadsky. "The investigation will be continued to determine whether he is alive," he added.

It is still unknown which court will consider the case. However, Julia Yuzhanina, Saushkin's attorney, told Belapan that the investigation team asked her if she would not mind transferring the case to the Belarusian Supreme Court. Under Art. 269 of the Criminal Code, the Supreme Court only deals with cases passed over to it with the consent of the suspect and his defender, who give up their rights to appeal the court's decision unless serious procedural violations to be found. Second part of the same article, however, is contradictory to the first one and stipulates that the Supreme Court can try anyone upon its own initiative.

On July 4, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) received an official response from the Interior Ministry saying that it is not going to hold any additional press conferences on Zavadsky's disappearance. On June 20, following reports about the Lukashenko's government involvement in the killing of its political opponents, the BAJ urged Viktor Sheiman, Prosecutor General, and Vladimir Naumov to provide public explanations about the fate of vanished politicians and Zavadsky. On July 4, ORT, Russian television network, aired the documentary titled "Wild Manhunt," produced by Pavel Sheremet, head of special projects at ORT, about Zavadsky's abduction. In an interview to Radio Racyja, Sheremet said that now he has no doubts about the Belarusian authorities' association with the political disappearances in the country. In the final scene of the documentary he says: "I know for sure that Sheiman, Sivakov and Lukashenko are criminals, who sooner or later will be punished." (Belapan- BAJ- Radio Racyja, July 3-5)

The Washington Post recently published an article by Jackson Diehl titled "Flight From a Death Squad in Belarus" based on an interview with Dmitry Petrushkevich and Oleg Sluchek, the two former investigators from the Prosecutor General's Office who fled Belarus, accusing the Lukashenko regime of forming a death squad to murder its political opponents, which can be found:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1962-2001Jun29.html

WIVES OF MISSING PUBLIC FIGURES START CAMPAIGN

On July 6, wives of opposition leaders believed to have been murdered by government-directed assassins appeared in Moscow to make their case to the Russian media. The wife of missing ORT cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky, Svetlana Zavadskaya, was accompanied by Irina Krasovskaya, the wife of kidnapped businessman Anatoly Krasovsky, and Ludmila Karpenko, the widow of Gennady Karpenko, a prominent opponent to the Lukashenko regime, who died suddenly on April 6, 1999, at the age of 49, of what the medical authorities here said was a cerebral hemorrhage. "We are asking you to help us find our husbands, to help us find out the truth about our relatives who were killed, to help us free our husbands from prison," said Ludmila Karpenko in an interview to the Russian Ren TV. Irina Krasovskaya, whose husband disappeared along with Victor Gonchar, a 13th Supreme Soviet deputy chair and a high profile antigovernment politician, on September 16, 1999, said that there are obvious attempts by the authorities to bury the issue about the political disappearances.

All the women put the blame on Lukashenko and consider their visit to Moscow the first step in their pre-election fight against the current Belarusian leader. "Throughout this year, we have heard him expressing his sympathy, but he has not tried to meet the families or the children or the mothers of those missing. He is afraid of us, he is afraid of a face-to-face conversation. And I think that silence always means complicity," said Svetlana Zavadskaya. On July 9, the women will take part in the 10th OSCE Parliamentary Assembly annual session in Paris and then they will leave for the U.S.. (Ren TV, July 6)

BELARUS SEAT AT OSCE PA WILL REMAIN VACANT

On July 5-6, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Paris once again failed to agree on the issue which group has a right to represent Belarus in the Assembly: 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. The Assembly took 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. It was decided that for a while Belarus's spot will be vacant. (Belapan, July 6)

DUMA CALLS ON PACE TO RESUME SPECIAL GUEST STATUS TO BELARUS

The Russian State Duma has called on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to grant the Lukashenko-controlled parliament "special guest status," reported Itar-Tass. The limited cooperation with the Belarusian parliament contradicts the proclaimed goal of the PACE, to boost the role of parliaments, and ignores the will of millions of the Belarusian voters, wrote the Russian deputies, adding that it is "illogical" to condition the normalization of relations with Belarus on the outcome of the country's presidential elections. On January 24, 2001, the PACE expressed profound concerns that Belarus continues to fall short of the Council's standards with respect to free and fair election, rule of law, and human rights. For those reasons, the Assembly has decided not to restore guest status to Belarus, which was granted on September 16, 1992, as the first step to the country's admission to the COE. Following the controversial November 1996 referendum on constitutional changes in Belarus, PACE suspended the guest status in January 1997. In January 2000, the Assembly held out the prospect of renewing special guest status to Belarus if it creates a "parliament worthy of its name." Apparently, the Belarusian authorities have failed to fulfill this requirement. (Itar-Tass, July 4)

POLICE TRY TO BREAK INTO HOME OF INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER EDITOR

On June 25 and June 27, police in Krichev, Mogilev Region, attempted a warrantless search of the apartment of Sergey Nerovny, editor-in-chief of Volny Gorod (Free City), an independent newspaper, reported Viasna Human Rights Center. Protesting against illegal police activities, Nerovny, who believes that the policemen were ordered to search for the equipment which is used for publishing the newspaper, filed a complaint with the local prosecutor's office. In February 2001, 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 in Smolensk. 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." Nerovny was fined 50 minimum wages (about $150) for illegal production and distribution of the printed materials under Art. 154 and Art. 172 para 1 of the Belarusian Administrative Code. (Viasna Human Rights Center, July 2)

IMPRISONED 13TH SUPREME SOVIET DEPUTY DENIED MEETING WITH PRIEST

Valery Shchukin, deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet and a reporter for Narodnaya Volya, an opposition newspaper, who on June 12 was sentenced to three months in jail on charges of "malicious hooliganism" under Art. 339, par. 1, of the Penal Code declared on March 15 by the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk and upheld on April 27 by the Minsk City Court (see Belarus Update Vol. 4, No. 24), has been transferred to the Zhodino pre-trial detention to serve his term, reported Nasha Svaboda, an independent newspaper. The deputy was not allowed to keep a copy of the Belarusian Criminal Code, newspapers and books and was denied a meeting with Jan Spasiuk, a priest of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (BAOC). [In August 2000, Spasiuk, a priest from the village of Pogranichny, Berestavitsky District, Grodno Region, was charged with resistance of police and sentenced to five days in jail (see Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 31-33). The local authorities refused to register his parish and the KGB proposed that he give up reviving the BAOC in Belarus.-Ed.]. On July 5, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) issued a statement saying that the court decision was a flagrant violation of the freedom of press and demanded Shchukin's immediate and unconditional release. (Nasha Svaboda-BAJ, July 5)

FORMER GAY CLUB DIRECTOR TORTURED TO DEATH

Ivan Sushinsky, 30-year-old director of Oscar, a gay club in Minsk, died in the hospital after a violent assault by unknown individuals, reported Belapan. On July 3, at approximately 6:00 a.m., Sushinsky's neighbors heard his cries for help and called the police. Sushinsky was found in his apartment tied with adhesive tape, numerous knife-shape burns on his body and a deep laceration to the head. The Sovetsky District Internal Affairs Directorate has launched an investigation into the case. In an interview to Belapan, Eduard Tarletsky, chair of the Belarusian League for Freedom of Sexual Minorities, the country's only lesbian and gay rights NGO, not registered with the Ministry of Justice, said that harassment of homosexuals has been increasing and that the police usually do not find the perpetrators of the crimes committed against sexual minorities. Oscar, a disco club known as a meeting place for homosexuals, was closed in February 2000, without explanation. (Belapan, July 4)

STUDENTS OF IRELAND CONDEMN REGIME FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

The Students' Union of Ireland sent a letter to the country's Foreign Minister Brian Cowen urging him to condemn the increasing human rights abuses in Belarus and expressing its solidarity with the students and the Belarusian population in their pursuit of democratic future, reported Charter 97. The Union was particularly concerned over the recent arrest and mistreatment of Sergei Pavlenkovich, Dmitry Gavrusik, Andrei Vitushka, and Kristina Sigun, all students of the Belarusian State University and members of the Association of Belarusian Students, who were detained on June 7 on the campus of the Gomel State University while distributing Student, an independent newspaper registered with the State Press Committee, and charged with "petty hooliganism" under Art. 156 of the Belarusian Administrative Offences Code (see Belarus Update Vol. 4, No 23-24). During the arrest, Andrei Vitushka was hit against the glass entrance door. As a result, the activist sustained several deep lacerations to his head and feet and a broken arm. He was denied medical care. "The people of Belarus have been enduring untold hardship culminating in the explosion at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl in April 1986 and its everlasting effects. However, the present actions of the Belarusian Government illustrate that the suffering of the Belarusians is far from over," wrote Julian de Spáinn, President of the Union, in the letter.

On June 26, the Ministry of Justice issued a written warning to the Association of Belarusian Students alleging that the members of the Association's Audit Committee failed to respond to letters sent to them by the Ministry, reported Viasna Human Rights Center. In fact, the letters were not registered by the Association's secretary because they were sent to the private addresses of people who were not re-elected as Committee's members by the Association's 6th Congress held on April 12, 2001. (Charter 97/Viasna Human Rights Center, July 4-5)

FORMER LUKASHENKO AIDE SEEKS POLITICAL ASYLUM IN GERMANY

Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta reported on July 6 that Ivan Titenkov, 47, Lukashenko's powerful aide from July 1994 to December 1999, is seeking political asylum in Germany. The German embassy in Minsk neither confirmed nor denied the newspaper's report. The Belarusian KGB refused to comment on the case. A month ago, Titenkov's wife Galina wrote an open letter to Lukashenko calling on him to stop harassing her family, which she said began after her husband disobeyed an order not to give interviews to the media. Serving as Lukashenko's presidential campaign manager in 1994, Titenkov was widely believed to be one of the most influential officials in Belarus and one of the Lukashenko's closest associates. The Belarusian independent press repeatedly suggested that Titenkov was involved in shady economic operations, managing crafts factories, health and vacation resorts, game reserves and hundreds of rental properties.

In the Saturday issue of Dien, an independent newspaper in Minsk, Titenkov claimed that the government was behind the disappearances of opposition figures, and had spent some $20 million on wire-tapping equipment. The newspaper issue was confiscated, but the article is available at www.charter97.org (BDG, Charter 97, July 6)

--RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN BELARUS-

CASES AGAINST DISTRIBUTORS OF PROTESTANT NEWSPAPER DROPPED

The administrative cases against more than twenty distributors of Slovo (Word), a Protestant newspaper registered with the State Press Committee, and Alexander Velichko, Slovo's editor-in-chief, have been dropped due to the lack of evidence of a crime, reported Keston News Service. The distributors were detained during the promotional distribution campaign held in Minsk from April 18 to May 5 and charged with "distribution of the printed materials of an unregistered outlet" under Art. 172, par. 3, of the Belarusian Administrative Offences Code, which is punishable by fine up to three minimal wages (see Belarus Update Vol. 4, No. 24). Velichko was accused of founding and leading an unregistered religious organization under Art. 193 of the Belarusian Administrative Offences Code. (Keston news service, July 4)

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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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