INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 4, No. 43
October 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

TRIAL BEGINS IN CASE OF MISSING JOURNALIST

On October 24, the Minsk Region Court chaired by Judge Alexander Simonov, started hearing in the case of Valery Ignatovich and Maksim Malik, both former officers of the Almaz Special-Assignment Police Force, Aleksey Guz, former student of the Police Academy, and Sergei Savushkin, a former convict, who are accused of committing seven premeditated murders, five armed assaults, two abductions, including kidnapping of journalist Dmitry Zavadsky, ORT cameraman in Belarus. Zavadsky disappeared on July 7, 2000 at the Minsk National Airport while waiting for Pavel Sheremet, another ORT journalist, to arrive from Moscow. When Sheremet arrived, Zavadsky was missing, but his car was found locked in the airport parking area.

The trial is closed for the public and the local observers believe that the authorities most likely will use the trial to show the international community and the domestic opposition some progress in investigating the disappearances of political opponents but by all means will try to avoid publicity. Zavadsky's mother Olga and wife Svetlana, who attended the first day of the trial, criticized the lack of public access. "It's wrong that this is a closed trial. It would be better if everybody could see and hear the proceedings," said Olga Zavadskaya. "I'm hoping for the best, and for the relevant facts to come out in court, which will make it possible to find out what happened," she added. Zavadskaya told reporters that she suspected high-level government involvement in her son's disappearance. Both, Olga and Svetlana Zavadskaya petitioned the court to be allowed access to legal counsel. The judge ruled that Olga Zavadskaya will be represented by lawyer Igor Aksenchik and refused to satisfy the petition of Svetlana Zavadskaya to allow Oleg Bastunets, one of the lawyers of the independent Belarusian Association of Journalists, to represent her in the courtroom.

The official investigators insist that the abduction was not politically motivated and that the journalist was kidnapped in revenge for filming a documentary in December 1999 about Belarusian military servicemen who allegedly trained Chechen rebels. The prosecution is pursing the theory that Ignatovich killed Zavadsky in revenge for Zavadsky's alleged hint in an interview with Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta (BDG) that some Almaz officers, who had been hired by Russia to fight against Chechen rebels, had also collaborated with the Chechen separatists as instructors. (In the interview with BDG, Zavadsky did not mention Ignatovich's name.) 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. After the documentary was aired by ORT, according to testimony given by some members of the Russian National Unity (RNU), a Russian nationalistic movement, which has a branch in Belarus, Ignatovich was allegedly expelled from the organization and decided to take revenge on Zavadsky.

The independent press, human rights community, and opposition have pieced together another version of the story. According to the information obtain by BDG correspondents, Ignatovich left the RNU on his own initiative, continuing to maintain good relations with Gleb Samoilov, and then Samoilov was killed soon after Ignatovich's arrest. Yet at first, the government's investigation also tried to accuse Ignatovich of killing Samoilov.

In June 2001, Dmitry Petrushkevich, a member of the investigation team of the Belarusian Prosecutor's General Office, fled the country, along with Oleg Sluchek, a former investigator who had left the Prosecutor General's office a year prior to that. The pair accused the Lukashenko regime of forming a death squad to murder its political opponents. The former investigators said that after the November 1996 referendum, Yury Sivakov, then Interior Minister, carried out the order of Viktor Sheiman, former secretary of the Belarusian State Security Council and currently the Belarusian Prosecutor General, to form a special group for the purpose of making hits on political enemies. The group, which included Ignatovich and Malik among others, was headed by Lieutenant- Colonel Dmitry Pavluchenko, commander of the military unit # 3214 of the Interior Ministry. The two former prosecutors have claimed that Dmitry Zavadsky, ORT cameraman; Viktor Gonchar, a 13th Supreme Soviet deputy chair, his business associate Anatoly Krasovsky, and Yuri Zakharenko, former Interior Minister, were also killed by Ignatovich, Malik, and their accomplices.

According to the two investigators who fled and are now in hiding, the Pavluchenko group was ordered to design a plot for an "ideal" abduction, which would leave no traces of any crime. It was decided to shoot the victims in the head with a type of gun used to carry out death sentences. The gun was usually given to Pavluchenko for a day or two and then would be returned after the order for an execution was carried out. Certain mafia leaders were chosen as guinea pigs to be killed for "dress rehearsals." Later, high-ranking government officials ordered the death squad to abduct and murder Zakharenko, Gonchar and Krasovsky, and eventually the journalist Zavadsky. The two investigators believe that Pavluchenko was receiving orders directly from Sivakov, who in turn, was instructed by Sheiman. After Sivakov's dismissal the group's activities were supervised by the new Interior Minister, Vladimir Naumov.

In November 2000, Pavluchenko was placed in the KGB's jail, where he was said to be personally interrogated by Oleg Bozhelko, then Prosecutor General, who demanded information about Zavadsky's whereabouts. After that interrogation, there seemed little doubt to sources inside the proscutor's office as well as in the opposition that Zavadsky had been murdered and his body, along with bodies of Gonchar, Krasovsky and Zakharenko, were buried in the Northern Cemetery in Minsk. (A persistent rumor in Minsk has it that the disappeared were executed and buried in a regular cemetery, possibly under existing graves, rather than dumped in the woods, under the theory that hiding a body in an actual cemetery would be a good diversion.)

The suspicions about Pavluchenko's confession in the jail cell became confirmed when the Prosecutor's General Office and the KGB made known their intention to find the bodies using special equipment which could only be provided by Russian specialists, since Belarus authorities did not have it. An official request was sent to the Russian Prosecutor General, but then subsequently withdrawn (a copy remained in the file). A major government security shake-up ensued, and Lukashenko then fired Vladimir Matskevich, then chief of the Belarusian State Security Council (KGB), and replaced Oleg Bozhelko, Prosecutor General, with Viktor Sheiman, previously holding the position of security chief. Rather than continuing to be a suspect in the case of at least Zavadsky's disappearance, Pavluchenko was released from his duties upon Sheiman's order, and even commended publicly on television by Lukashenko with an award for valor

The investigators then found a shovel stained with Zavadsky's blood in the trunk of Ignatovich's car. They believes that Lukashenko ordered that Zavadsky be kidnapped and killed, because Zavadsky was at one time the cameraman who worked most closely with the president, but left him for ORT, in revenge for his "betrayal" and for his subsequent anti-Lukashenko reporting. "Lukashenko never forgets and never forgives," Sluchek commented. Ignatovich and Malik are now in custody awaiting trial for the alleged abduction of Zavadsky and are being visited frequently by Interior Minister Naumov, who has not divulged any information about their confidential talks. Human rights activists believe that the regim would like to pin the crimes on Ignatovich and possibly the other suspects in a rapid and closed trial, and then sentence them to the death penalty, still legal in Belarus, in order to completely silence speculation about the government's complicity in the disappearances of opposition leaders and a journalist from 1999-2000.

In July 2001, ORT, Russian television network, aired a documentary about Zavadsky's abduction, titled "Wild Manhunt," produced by Pavel Sheremet, head of special projects at ORT. In an interview with Radio Racyja, Sheremet said that now he had 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."

Ignatovich, who pleaded not guilty, went on hunger strike at the opening of the trial and was brought in the courtroom on a stretcher. A few hours after the beginning of the hearing, the doctor testified that the accused could not continue participation in the session due to his poor health and requested to adjourn the hearing. (Nasha Svaboda/ Belapan/ Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta/ILHR, October 24-25)

RUSSIAN DUMA HOLDS HEARINGS ON JOURNALIST'S DISAPPEARANCE

On October 22, the Russian State Duma started hearings into the disappearance of Dmitry Zavadsky, reported Nasha Svaboda. The hearings were initiated by human rights activists and the leaders of the Yabloko and Union of Right Forces parties. Pavel Sheremet informed the deputies that new names have emerged in the course of investigation, including those of former employees of Lukashenko' security service. One of these people is someone with the last name Leonenko, a former officer of the presidential security service and now an officer in the Almaz Special-Assignment Police Force. According to Sheremet, Leonenko was seen near Zavadsky's apartment building on the morning when the journalist disappeared.

Russian deputies were perplexed by the fact that Valery Ignatovich, an officer of the Special-Assignment Police Force of a neighboring state, Belarus, was hired by the Russian military to fight against Chechen rebels, wrote Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta. They also wanted to know what kind of relations exists between Belarus, Russia's ally, and the Chechens. By collecting and analyzing information from scattered sources, some Russian human rights activists came to the conclusion that the Lukashenko government was supplying on a regular basis arms and medications to Chechen leaders, who are frequent guests in Belarus, where behind the high fences of the governmental mansions they receive a hearty welcome. (It is not known whether these alleged ties to the Chechen fighters were said to be made by Belarusian authorities purely for mercenary reasons, or as some part of some more involved plot to keep Russia off balance, or whether the entire story is merely a fabrication designed to discredit the journalists and activists who take up this hypothesis. The Lukashenko regime has also targeted leaders of the Belarusian opposition in a smear campaign to imply they support the Chechen war against Russian federal troops, although in fact Belarusian opposition activists hae pointed out the enormous human rights violations caused by the Russian troops in the Chechen Republic-Ed.) Some Russian human rights activists strongly believe that Zavadsky was killed because his repeated trips to Chechnya made nervous some high-ranking Belarusian officials, who did not want anyone to know that Ignatovich was using his affiliation with the Russian army ostensibly as a disguise for selling weaponry to Chechnya on behalf of the Lukashenko entourage. (Nasha Svaboda/ Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta, October 22)

MALADY FRONT ACTIVISTS PICKET DETENTION CENTER IN MINSK

On October 24, the Malady (Youth) Front members held an unauthorized picket near a detention center in Minsk, where Pavel Severinets, the organization's chair serves his ten days' imprisonment on charges of violating Art. 167, par. 1, of the Administrative Offenses Code (participation in mass actions violating public order). The activists demanded an unconditioned release of their leader and chanted "Long Live Belarus!" 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)

AUTHORITIES IS TO CLOSE ASSOCIATION OF BELARUSIAN STUDENTS

On October 18, during a meeting with Victor Golovanov, Belarusian Minister of Justice, and Mikhail Sukhinin, head of the Ministry's Department of Public Organizations. Kristina Vitushka, chair of the National Association of Belarusian Students (NABS), was informed that the Ministry has initiated proceedings to liquidate the organization since it had received two warnings in one year, reported Viasna Human Rights Center. The first written warning, issued on June 26, 2001, alleged that the members of the Association's Audit Committee failed to respond to official inquires by the Ministry. 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. On September 9, 2001, the Ministry of Justice sent a second warning to Association, in which it claimed that the name of the organization at the mail box and at the office entrance did not match the one on its registration certificate.

On October 24, Viasna Public Association Human Rights Center issued a statement protesting the authorities' decision to close down the NABS. The human rights defenders believe that this is in gross violation of the commitments undertaken by Belarus to uphold international standards for freedom of speech and assembly, and also the right to know and act upon ones rights within the OSCE framework, and Belarus commitment to uphold the principles of the Defenders Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly. The Center called on the international community and domestic democratic opposition to sent letters of protest to the Ministry of Justice using the following address:

Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus
Kollectornaya Street
Minsk 220004
Belarus

ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN LAWYERS DISCUSS ILL-TREATMENT OF DETAINEES

On October 19 in Minsk, the Belarusian Association of Women Lawyers hosted a seminar
on torture and other inhumane treatment or punishment in detention centers committed by state officials or with their acquiescence. The participants discussed cases of mistreatment of political prisoners and poor detention conditions for all types of prisoners; cases of disappeared persons; police use of truncheons against peaceful demonstrators and beatings both at street rallies and in precincts; evidence that the judicial system is not sufficiently independent to handle and provide remedies for torture cases; denial of medical treatment to the victims of the police brutalities; use of the death penalty, lack of transparency and appeals procedures in cases of capital punishment, and refusal to return the bodies of executed persons to relatives; and other relevant information.
Speaking at the seminar, Gary Pogonyaylo, prominent Belarusian human rights defender, pointed out at the failure to conduct prompt, impartial and full investigations into the many allegations of torture reported to the authorities. In his address, Vyacheslav Shabanov, deputy head of the Committee on Execution of Sentences of the Belarusian Interior Ministry, categorically denied allegations of brutal treatment of the detainees. "We have a normal working atmosphere in our correctional institutions," he maintained. (Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta, October 25)

OPPOSITION PARTY URGES REGIME TO RELEASE JAILED MP

The United Civil Party has urged Alexander Lukashenko to release from prison Andrei Klimov, a successful entrepreneur and member of the 13th Supreme Soviet that was illegally dissolved in late 1996, and to drop criminal charges fabricated against other members of the political opposition. The Party's leadership called on the Belarusian leader to demonstrate in reality that he is prepared to conduct "the policy of liberalization and democratization."

Klimov's supporters and human rights observers believe that his arrest and prosecution was politically motivated because Klimov remains an outspoken critic of the Lukashenko regime and had participated in a commission that examined violations of the law and the Constitution by the President. In February 1998, he was arrested on charges of embezzlement and other financial irregularities at his private ventures. Klimov's period of pretrial detention was extended on several occasions. He was severely beaten by prison guards on December 13, 1999, following his refusal to leave his cell as a sign of protest. The presiding judge ordered that he be brought to the courtroom. He was beaten by guards and forcefully dragged into the courtroom in torn clothing and without any shoes. Although he was clearly in need of medical attention, an ambulance was not called until several hours later. On March 17, 2000, the deputy was convicted of large-scale embezzlement and forgery and sentenced to six years' imprisonment and loss of property. (Radio Racija, October 23)

NEW LAW ON PRESS AND OTHER MEDIA TO BE INTRODUCED IN BELARUS

On October 18, Mikhail Podgainy, chair of the State Press Committee, told a press conference in Minsk that the existing law "On Press and other Media" dated January 13, 1995, and amended on June 7, 1996, and January 8, 1998, is under revision now and will be replaced by a new version, which on October 30 will be sent for comments to the Belarusian Union of Journalists and the Belarusian Association of Journalists. Podgainy said that the new law will not significantly differ from the existing one. The current law stipulates many restrictions on publishers, editors, and journalists. All media outlets must register with a government agency. The law also prohibits dissemination of information that could offend "the morals, honor, and dignity of citizens" or "defame the honor and dignity of government officials." Independent media are further restricted by a decree dated March 17, 1998, which restricts dissemination of official information (including press releases) to governmental media, and by a law dated December 2, 1998, which stipulates that only specially licensed media may publish laws and other legal information. State owned media are automatically licensed. The license is linked to the employment of an licensed lawyer. (Nasha Svaboda, October 22)

-RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN BELARUS-

PROTESTANT CHURCH UNABLE TO RENT PROPERTY TO CONDUCT SERVICES

Religious organizations in Belarus, notably those independent from the state, do not have their own place of worship, and continue to face an almost impossible task in finding facilities for worship. They are banned from renting state-owned premises and, at least in Minsk, renting commercial premises, and often find it difficult to buy land to build.

On October 15, Veniamin Brukh, pastor of the Church of Christ, a Full Gospel Pentecostal church in Minsk, told Keston News Service that despite his church's September 12 court victory overturning a ban on renting a House of Culture in the Frunzensky District of Minsk to hold services, the Minsk Executive Committee However still turns deaf ear to the church's request to rent the House of Culture, arguing that renting the building to a religious organization violates the law.

Alla Ryabitseva, head of the department of Religious and Ethnic Affairs of the Minsk City Council, told Keston by phone that the church will not be allowed to use the House of Culture. "Let them find other premises," she said and declined to discuss the implications of the ruling.

Pastor Brukh told Keston that as a result of the ban on renting other premises now the church rents a hall belonging to a Pentecostal Church. "We share the church with the Pentecostal congregation as well as another church which is also renting from them, so we can only meet by arrangement on Sunday evenings and on Tuesday evenings," he reported. "We want to have our own place to meet."

Early this year, Pastor Brukh, who has long worked in Minsk, has been accused of carrying out religious activity without permission in violation of Art .185 of the Belarusian Administrative Offences Code. The accusation came despite the fact that his 1000-member strong church wants him to continue his work. On July 30, 2001, Alexander Kalinov, a senior official of the State Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs, told Keston that Brukh does not have and would not get the special permission from the Committee required under Art. 11 of the law on foreign citizens, insisting that Bible colleges in Belarus are producing enough graduates, so Protestant churches do not need foreign pastors. Kalinov told Keston that this ruling effectively barred Brukh as a foreign citizen without special permission including preaching, teaching and speaking to the church in any form. He said that there were "no talks" of expelling Brukh from Belarus, merely of halting his religious activity with the church.

The Belarusian constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the government restricts this right in practice. Alexander Lukashenko has pursued a deliberated policy of favoring the Russian Orthodox Church as the country's main religion and the government has increased harassment of some nontraditional or minority religions. Some of these, including many Protestant denominations, the Belarusian Orthodox Autocephalous Church, and some eastern religions, repeatedly have been denied registration by the authorities. Without registration, many of these groups find it difficult, if not impossible, to rent or purchase property to conduct religious services. Despite continued harassment, minority faiths sometimes have been able to function if they maintain a low profile.

Before a foreign citizen can legally preach in Belarus, or even publicly address a religious gathering, the State Committee needs to have a written request from the religious community, a copy of the individual's religious education certificate and the committee itself needs to grant written permission. Kalinov rejected suggestions that these bureaucratic requirements violate the freedom of religious communities to decide for themselves how to conduct their own activities.
(Keston News Service, October 16)

************************************************************************
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.

************************************************************************

Back