INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 4, No. 42
October 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:
Independent Press Exposes Arms Sales to Regimes Harboring Terrorists
Malady Front Leader Sentenced to Ten Days Imprisonment
Exiled Former KGB Officer on Wanted List in Belarus
Corruption Proliferates in Belarus
Trafficking in Women is Growing Problem in Belarus
Discrimination Against Independent Press Continues
Police Threaten Kurapaty Defenders
Two Local Opposition Activists Stand Trial
Belarusian Language Newspaper Robbed
Opposition Sets Up a New Coalition
Belarus Offers Ex-Bosnian President Political Asylum
Al Qaeda Tried to Buy Nuclear Material from CIS Mafia
East European Banks Feel Heat from New Money-Laundering Laws
Ireland to Rebuild Chernobyl Orphanage

BELARUS SELLS ARMS TO REGIMES HARBORING TERRORISTS, SAYS NS

Nasha Svaboda, an independent newspaper published in Minsk, says the Lukashenko regime has been acting as one of principal arm suppliers to dictatorships as well as terrorist groups in Central Asia, the Middle East, South America, the Balkans, and Africa. According to NS, in the next six months, Minsk is going to complete a $600 million contract to supply modern arms to Albania and the Palestinian Authority.

It all started right after Lukashenko was elected president in 1994, says NS, which has suffered repeated harassment for its muck-raking stories. Belarus sold armored vehicles and guns to Tajikistan, which then resold them to Afghanistan. In 1998, Minsk supplied Iraq with high-tech equipment to produce advance optical systems. To strengthen its relations with Minsk, Iraq has deployed a Belarus officer at its embassy in Moscow. In 1999, Lukashenko signed a contract to modernize the Iraq anti-aircraft defense systems and SA-3 missile complexes. To circumvent the UN embargo, Belarus uses a multitude of middlemen in various countries. According to Nasha Svaboda, the Belarusian weaponry is first shipped to Iraq via Jordan. After installing it in Iraq, Belarusian military specialists passed the baton to Chinese engineers who then maintained the equipment. Apart from Iraq, Belarus is actively dealing with the Angolan rebel force called UNITA (tanks and Sandstorm fire control systems), with Sudan (Hail missiles, T-55 tanks, and Minsk-24B helicopters). Algeria has obtained MiG fighters, and Morocco has received 50 T-72 tanks. NS concludes that Lukashenko's government has played an important role, serving as a middleman for Russia's arm deals. (Nasha Svaboda, October 19)

MALADY FRONT LEADER SENTENCED TO TEN DAYS JAIL

On October 16, the Zavadsky District Court of Minsk sentenced Pavel Severinets, chair of the Malady (Youth) Front, the youth wing of the BPF Adradzhenne, to ten days in jail on charges of violating Art. 167, par. 1, of the Administrative Offenses Code (participation in mass actions violating public order). On October 2, the police broke up an unauthorized protest held by the Malady Front outside the Minsk Automobile Factory, hauling off 11 demonstrators, who tired to distribute leaflets protesting the government's plans to sell the plant to Russia's Siberian Aluminum industrial group. The young activists accused the government of trying to reward Russian oligarchs for supporting Alexander Lukashenko's re-election. The activists were verbally and physically abused while in detention. (Malady Front press service, October 17)

EXILED FORMER KGB OFFICER ON WANTED LIST IN BELARUS

Gennady Uglyanitsa, former officer of the Department for Protection of the Constitutional Order and and Prevention of Terrorism of the KGB Office for Minsk and the Minsk Region, is currently living in Norway. Lukashenko has alleged this claim at the prime-minister's confirmation hearing in the Belarusian parliament. Uglyanitsa gained notoriety in August 2001, when he forwarded to media outlets in Minsk a videotape with shocking revelations about the Lukashenko death squad's involvement in the disappearances of opposition leader Victor Gonchar and his associate, Anatoly Krasovsky. Radim Goretsky, a prominent Belarusian scientist and Uglyanitsa's father-in-law, told the Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta correspondents that Gennady telephoned his wife (Goretsky's daughter) on October 10 to confirm that he had found refuge in Norway. According to Goretsky, Uglyanitsa did not provide any details of his escape from Belarus but did reiterate that everything he said on the video was true. Separately, Pavel Latushko, press-secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, told BDG that the Ministry intends to communicate with its counterparts in Norway and other countries regarding Uglyanitsa and other law-enforcers, who are now on the Wanted List in Belarus. (Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta, October 16)

CORRUPTION PROLIFERATES IN BELARUS

Lack of democracy, slow privatization, lawlessness and overwhelming corruption are the main reasons for poverty and economic hardship in Belarus. Despite Lukashenko's successful attempts to expand his government powers under the pretext of fighting crime and corruption, a poll among Belarusian entrepreneurs conducted by the International Finance Corporation in July 2001, indicated that 85% of respondents had had the experience of bribing government workers, Nasha Svaboda reported. 41% said that they have to bribe "regularly," 41% admitted that they bribe "seldom," while 15% of respondents do not believe there is corruption in Belarus at all. While 93% of those polled think that the private businesses must defend their interest at the state level, there was no uniformity about the best way to proceed about this goal. The majority, 58%, consider trade unions the best means to represent the interests of entrepreneurs in the state agencies.

The existing Penal Code contains several articles that outlaw bribery, embezzlement, abuse of power, and corruption. In June 1997, the Belarusian parliament passed and Lukashenko signed legislation on "Measures to Fight Organized Crime and Corruption." Later, Lukashenko ordered the establishment of a state committee for financial control over legislation on entrepreneurship and taxes. The body is part of the investigation department at the State Tax Committee and is responsible for protecting tax inspectors and preventing corruption in tax collecting bodies. There are laws requiring financial disclosures by parliamentarians and senior officials as well as conflict of interest laws. Nevertheless, many services are subject to bribe requests, particularly in customs, border patrol, road inspection, tax inspections, medical services, telephone installation, obtaining a license to operate a business, applying for a passport or other official documents. The high-profile anti-corruption campaigns are often used to silence political opponents of the regime. (Nasha Svaboda, October 17)

TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN IS GROWING PROBLEM IN BELARUS

According to Irina Alkhovka, President of the Belarusian Young Christians Women Association, Russia has recently joined a sordid roster of countries to which the international mafia "export" Belarusian women, reported Nasha Svaboda. Alkhovka made this statement on October 16 in Gomel, which hosted a seminar on trafficking in women for law-enforcement agencies and NGOs. The seminar was organized in cooperation with La Strada, the Polish Charitable Foundation, within the framework of the Ariadna Project. (The project is aimed at informing women of the risks associated with employment abroad and the minimization of possible dangers for women.) According to Alkhovka, this 21st century slave trade is a third highest source of income for the international criminal structures, after narcotics and arm trades. She pointed out that women, typically lured by newspaper ads promising legitimate work abroad, as babysitters or waiters, end up in bordellos, where they are kept against their will and with the threat of physical force. Among the countries that Belarusian women should try to avoid are Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Lithuania, Bosnia, and Russia.

There is no specific law against trafficking in women in Belarus. The authorities are just beginning to recognize this problem. In 1999 a Board of Morals and Illegal Distribution of Drugs was created by the Ministry of Interior, but the work has been hardly efficient. In partnership with the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), the Gender Information and Policy Center (GIPC) was established by the Ministry of Social Welfare which also deals with this issue. Information from scattered destinations suggests that the Russian Mafia is active in trafficking young Belarusian women. No information is available on state or non-governmental initiatives to help victims return to their countries. Crisis centers established by some NGO's do provide psychological assistance to victims of violence. Such centers, however, do not have specialists dealing with victims of trafficking. (Nasha Svaboda, October 17)

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST INDEPENDENT PRESS CONTINUE

The authorities denied accreditation to all independent journalists who applied to cover Lukashenko's visit to Gomel, scheduled for October 23, reported Nasha Svaboda. The official explanation was the lack of space in the auditorium, where the press-conference will take place. Journalists were required to submit the most detailed information concerning not only their outlets but also their date and place of birth, current address, passport particulars. Reacting to journalists' complains, Dmitry Zhuk, head of the presidential press-service, characterized this information gathering as a "simple update of our press database." (Nasha Svaboda, October 17)

POLICE THREATEN KURAPATY DEFENDERS

On October 15, several representatives of regional and district law-enforcement agencies visited the camp of protesters, who are trying to prevent the destruction of Kurapaty, the site of mass graves of thousands of victims of the Stalinist repressions in the 1930s, reported Belapan. According to the Malady (Youth) Front press-service, Igor Uladyka, Department Head of the Protection of Public Order of the Minsk Region MVD, accompanied by other police officers, appeared at the four-week old tent city and accused its residents of staging an unauthorized picket. The law-enforcers explained that the visit had been prompted by a formal complaint filed by the State Committee of Transportation, which alleged that the Malady Front 24/7 vigil interferes with the reconstruction of the Minsk Belt Way, which passes nearby. (Belapan/ Malady (Youth) Front press-service, October 15)

TWO LOCAL OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS STAND TRIAL

On October 16, Ales Pikula, chair of the Baranovichi, Brest Region, branch of the BPF Adradzhenne, was reprimanded by the Baranovichi City Court for taking part in an unauthorized opposition action "Chain of People Who Care" which was held on September 17.

The same day, Yegor Varvashevich was charged by the Leninski District Court of Brest with violation of Art. 167 par. 3 (violation of the election legislation) and Art. 166 (disobedience to the police) of the Administrative Offenses Code and fined seven minimal wages (about $35). (Viasna Human Rights Center, October 17)

BELARUSIAN LANGUAGE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER ROBBED

On October 12, the office of Regionalnaya Gazeta, a Molodechno-based Belarusian language independent newspaper with a circulation of 8,100 copies, was burglarized.
The perpetrators entered the office through the window and stole three computers, two monitors, a digital camera, two printers, a fax, telephones, and an electric kettle. (Viasna Human Rights Center, October 15)

OPPOSITION SETS UP A NEW COALITION

On October 16, representatives of eight democratic political parties that once formed the Advisory Council of Opposition Political Parties decided to resume cooperation and to develop a new strategy of the joint activities after the September 9 presidential elections. The objective of the new organization, which is called the Council of Democratic Parties, is to lay the foundation of the development of democracy in the country and creating an environment of respect for basic human rights and the rule of law. (Radio Racija, October 17)

CHARGES AGAINST OF INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER'S JOURNALISTS DROPPED

On October 12, a criminal case against Sergei Nerovny, Vadim Stefanenko, and Nikolai Motorenko, all activists from Krichev, Mogilev Region and journalists of Volny Gorod (Free City), an independent newspaper, who were charged under Article 183 of the Criminal Code (organization of public disturbance), was dropped for the absence of evidence. The journalists were defended in court by representatives of the local branch of Viasna Human Rights Center. (Viasna Human Rights Center, October 15)

-BROTHER SLAVS-

BELARUS OFFERS EX-BOSNIAN PRESIDENT POLITICAL ASYLUM

Radovan Karadjic, the former Bosnian Serb president, sleeps with a machine gun and a loaded revolver. NATO intelligence officers tracking him have been told the indicted war criminal has vowed to shoot himself rather than surrender to international justice. Last week, Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague, urged greater efforts to capture Karadjic, 56, to face trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to keep Karadjic behind bars for the rest of his life. The charges include orchestrating the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo, in which at least 12,000 civilians perished, and conspiring in the massacre of up to 7,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995. The informants in the local police say Karadjic is protected by an elite bodyguard and ferried around parts of Republika Srpska - the Serbian part of Bosnia - and occasionally into Montenegro and Serbia. Karadjic's determination to remain free is also recognized in Belgrade, where government sources last week confirmed he had received two offers of political asylum. One opportunity for a new life was given by Belarus. The other is believed to have involved a clandestine flight to India. (The Gazette (Montreal), October 14)

-INTERNATIONAL NEWS-

AL-QAEDA TRIED TO BUY NUCLEAR MATERIAL FROM CIS MAFIA

Osama bin Laden's group Al-Qaeda had made several attempts to procure nuclear material for military purpose from the CIS mafia, reported Interfax. For this purpose, bin Laden had reportedly established contacts with representatives of the organized criminal gangs in Germany, Belarus and Russia. American and European intelligence services are trying to trace contacts made by Makhmud Salim, Al-Qaeda's financial director, in this connection. Salim has been in a German prison since 1998. (Interfax, October 16)

EAST EUROPEAN BANKS FEEL HEAT FROM NEW MONEY-LAUNDERING LAWS

In the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the U.S., the EU and the U.S. Congress have passed sweeping bank legislation which would require a higher level of due diligence and oblige lawyers and accountants to inform authorities if they become aware that their clients are laundering money. New laws will force small Central and East European banks with poor track records on transparency either to meet stricter levels of disclosure demanded by their Western counterparts or face losing international business tie-ups and partnerships. Countries like Latvia, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Moldova, where some banks and offshore funds are often little more than a brass plate on the wall of a building, and government regulations lax or nonexistent, may see their correspondent relationships terminated if they do not reveal more about their client transactions, bankers and regulators said recently. Correspondent banking ties allow banks to open up accounts at other banks to operate in countries where they do not have a branch of their own. It is estimated by investigators for the U.S. Senate that as much as $35 billion is held in U.S. banks by correspondent banks.

Money laundering in Eastern and Central Europe has always played a major role in the worldwide laundering network, which processes between $500 billion to $1 trillion in money from illegal activities each year, according to data from the anti-corruption institution Transparency International. But because money laundering has many forms and is highly insidious, it is nearly impossible to predict how much business is at risk in Central and Eastern Europe. Widespread use of cash in the region, along with a lack of electronic and traditional paper banking, including debit cards and checks, only makes it easier for criminals to operate. (Dow Jones Newswires, October 17)

-AT HOME IN BELARUS-

IRELAND TO REBUILD CHERNOBYL ORPHANAGE

On October 18, seventy Irish volunteers with the Chernobyl Children's Project arrived in Belarus to rebuild the Kletsk Orphanage ravaged by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. "Our 70 aid workers are a true embodiment of the ethos aspired during this UN Year of the Volunteer," said Adi Roche, charity founder and a former presidential candidate in Ireland. "Through their commitment we continue to bring some shred of dignity to the lives of those living daily with the consequences of Chernobyl," he said. "Belarus is a country on its knees, facing a demographic disaster from the invisible enemy of radiation. It is only through the compassion of our helpers that we can truly offer hope 15 years on to the survivors of this tragedy," Roche added. The orphanage is home to 140 children and within three weeks they should have new showers, classrooms and workshops. The helpers, who are known as the Irish heroes by the children, plan to work day and night to transform the buildings. [Belarus suffered horrific health problems including leukemia and cancer after the Chernobyl reactor malfunctioned in 1986. Radiation spilled across the country, with 70 per cent of the fallout landing within Belarus borders.-Ed.]. (The Mirror, October 18)

FREEDOM IN A CAGE

Victor Dashuk, a prominent Belarusian film-maker, who since 1997 has been under constant state surveillance, stands accused of one crime -- making movies -- wrote The Guardian October 18. "Between Satan and God" is the title of the first part in what was envisioned as a trilogy questioning the nature of absolute power and its psychological effect on a country entirely populated by the powerless. By the time Dashuk completed "Night of the Long Knives" (1999) the second part of the trilogy, the harassment had became overt. He received an unannounced visit from plain-clothed members of the presidential security service, who refused to identify themselves but demanded he handed over the videotape of his film, which was subsequently banned. "Night of the Long Knives" begins in the company of the dispossessed, with a group of young Belarusian Satanists, faces smeared with greasepaint, enacting nocturnal graveyard rituals that parallel the nihilistic philosophy of the country's regime. Hope is dealt a savage blow in the final sequence, which features a grainy and harrowing footage of animals being hunted and killed from a helicopter in Belarus's southern exclusion zone, a region gravely polluted by fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor.

Dashuk, who is fond of speaking in allegory, describes living in Belarus as akin to "freedom in a cage," and mentions an association with childhood fears that he would be locked in the family rabbit hutch if he misbehaved. Hence the title of the recently completed final part of his trilogy: "Reporting from the Rabbit Hutch." The inhabitants of this cage, the director explains, are subject to the absolute will and whims of the master, whether benevolent or harsh. In "Reporting from the Rabbit Hutch," Dashuk presents evidence that the disappeared of Belarus did not vanish completely without a trace. He tracks down exiled families of the disappeared and shows the reality of life on the streets of Minsk, where old women are dragged off the streets by military police for speaking their own language and citizens are bundled into cars by the security service in broad daylight. (The Guardian (London), October 18)

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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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