INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 4, No. 52
December 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

- Regime Denies Reports Of Supporting International Terrorists
- OSCE Envoy: Modest Gains In Belarus Human Rights Record
- Opposition Blames Suicide Of Zubr Activist On KGB
- Zubr Activists Stand Trial For Celebrating Human Rights Day
- Trade Union Leader Resigns Under Pressure From Authorities
- International Unions Demand Cancellation Of Illegal Decree
- Witnesses Describe Cruel Treatment Of Death Squad Victims
- Local NGOs Receive Heavy Fines For Violation Of Decree #8
- Activists Fired For Participation In Election Campaign
- Editor Of Opposition Paper Looses Commercial License
- Putin, Lukashenko Discuss Priorities Of Russia-Belarus Union

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS-

REGIME DENIES REPORTS OF SUPPORTING INTERNATIONAL TERRORISTS

On December 27, the Lukashenko government vehemently denied accusations by German and Israeli media that it had sold weapons to terrorist organizations and rogue states. "They are trying to make a problem country out of Belarus," Foreign Minister Mikhail Khvostov told journalists, pointing out that "Belarus does not trade in weapons with countries to which the UN Security Council has prohibited arms sales." Khvostov said that he had ordered the Foreign Ministry stuff to investigate the issue and report back to him in two weeks. [Alexander Lukashenko, who is adamantly anti-Western, has been pursuing closer ties with Iraq, Iran and Libya--Ed.] (Interfax, Itar-Tass, December 27)

OSCE ENVOY: MODEST GAINS IN BELARUS'S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD

On December 21, Amb. Hans-Georg Wieck, who headed the OSCE AMG in Belarus for the past four years, said that the human rights record of the country has somewhat improved--but still has a long way to go. Amb. Wieck will leave the OSCE AMG post on December 31, handing over human rights monitoring in Europe's most oppressive state to a successor. He and the OSCE have had numerous run-ins with the Belarusian government, which vehemently resisted the mission's attempts to champion civil rights.

On the eve of his re-election in September, Alexander Lukashenko claimed Wieck was a spy who must leave the country or face expulsion. On September 5, Sovetskaya Belorussiya, a state-controlled newspaper, in an article titled "Operation Belarus White Stork," alleged that the OSCE mission was acting as an umbrella for Western spy services that want to overthrow the Belarusian president. In a two-page article, the daily described the Western plan, allegedly dubbed "Operation 'White Stork'" which was supposed to culminate in an opposition march in Minsk on the night after the election and was to include clashes with police." "That will give the West a pretext for refusing to recognize President Lukashenko's re-election and proclaim the election invalid," the newspaper concluded. [The article also made claims about the Belarusian Helsinki Committee which caused its leader Tatiana Protko to file a complaint with the Sovetsky District Court of Minks demanding a refutation.-Ed.].

"I think that when President Lukashenko called me a spy, he was fully aware that I was not a spy and I never headed the Belarusian opposition," Wieck later said. He added that the article was a "tactical step to win more votes from a citizenry that has been warned of the dangers of Western interference." Wieck added that the OSCE was deeply critical of the parliamentary and presidential elections, which it and other Western organizations refused to validate as free and fair. But he also said that some changes for the better had occurred. "Society recognizes the necessity of forming a democratic alternative," he said. "Independent (electoral) observers at the lower level have formed a network, and a consultative council of opposition parties has been created that can act as a single political front." As for what improvements remain to be made, Wieck had a long list, which included "meaningful functions of parliament, avoiding the monopoly of state TV, radio and other media, respect of individual human rights, nondiscrimination toward political opponents, and of course a market economy." (Interfax/ Belapan, BDG, December 21-27)

OPPOSITION BLAMES A SUICIDE OF ZUBR ACTIVIST ON KGB

Andrei Zaitsev, a 24-year-old member of Zubr, the youth opposition movement, committed suicide on December 20 in Gomel. On December 27, the organization issued a statement accusing the Belarusian KGB of driving the young activist to hanging himself. "We have every reason to believe that local KGB agents, who repeatedly asked Andrei to become an informer and intimidated him, drove him to suicide," Zubr spokesman Alexander Atroshchenkov said at a news conference. After the news conference, Zubr activists held a silent protest at the KGB headquarters in Minsk. They linked arms and held up Zaitsev's portrait.

After his death, Zaitsev's friends found an audio cassette of a phone conversation between him and Senior Lt. Alexander Yevstigneyev, an employee of the Gomel Region KGB Department, as well as Andrei's letter to the Belarusian Helsinki Committee detailing his recruitment by the KGB and a request for protection. [KGB officials refused to admit that they have an employee with such a last name--Ed.]

Last spring, the Sovetsky District Court of Gomel sentenced Zaitsev to three month's imprisonment on trumped-up charges of molesting a 15-year-old girl under Art. 168 of the Penal Code. According to Andrei's friends, right after the trial he was approached by a KGB agent who told Zaitsev that it is only a beginning and threatened to ruin the activist's life if he did not agree to become a KGB informant. In August 2001, the activist was acquitted, but in late October the case was re-opened.

On December 24, the United Civil Party appealed to Leonid Yerin, KGB chief, to resign and to form an independent public committee to investigate the circumstances of Zaitsev's death. The Party called on all Belarusian NGOs and non-state media to unite their efforts and defend youth from the pernicious influence of Lukashenko's secret services. KGB spokesman Fyodor Kotov dismissed the accusation, saying Zaitsev was known to be suicidal and that the KGB had never been interested in him. (Zubr/ Viasna Human Rights Center/ Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta, December 27)

ZUBR ACTIVISTS STAND TRIAL FOR CELEBRATING HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

On December 19, 2001, Judge Kapchevskaya of the Baranovichi City Court in the Brest Region, issued official warnings to Julia Plotnikova, V. Drozd, and V. Krolikov, all Zubr activists, for holding an unauthorized picket and rally on December 9 to mark the 53rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The protesters marched along the central street and left portraits of the disappeared people near the local police station. When the marchers were about to go home, about a dozen of policemen ran out of the building and arrested nine Zubr members. The law-enforcers reportedly cursed at the detainees and puffed cigarette smoke into their faces. Julia Plotnikova, who suffers from severe asthmatic reactions to smoke, fainted. Drozd and Krolikov testified that the policemen threatened to keep them in jail for ten days until the trial if the boys do not sign a police report, which charged them with participation in mass actions which violated public order under Art. 167, para 1, of the Administrative Offences Code. Local activists believe that the sentence was mild due to a lot of attention to the case from local independent media and NGOs. (Viasna Human Rights Center, December 22)

TRADE UNION LEADER RESIGNS UNDER PRESSURE FROM AUTHORITIES

On December 22, at an extraordinary meeting of the presidium of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB), Vladimir Goncharik, a former opposition presidential candidate, resigned from his position as the organization's chair. Goncharik has been offered the position of the deputy head of the Confederation of the CIS Trade Unions, where he will coordinate the operations of the trade union movements of Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. One day earlier had Goncharik paid a visit to Moscow, where his new appointment was approved.

Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta wrote that Lukashenko himself, unable to forgive the former FTUB head for running against him in the presidential elections, had personally demanded Goncharik's resignation. Andrei Kobyakov, Deputy Prime Minister, warned at a meeting with FTUB's leadership that "if Goncharik continues working in his position, the Federation's property will be nationalized," reported Interfax "By leaving his post, Goncharik is saving the organization," Kobyakov added. Recently, the Council of Ministers adopted Ddecree #1804, signed on December 14, cynically calling "Measures to Protect Trade Union Rights," which forbids unions to organize centralized deduction of their union dues from the wages of state enterprise employees, effectively cutting them off from a main source of funding and independence. FTUB's representative told Interfax that no funds have come to trade unions' bank accounts since September 2001.

On December 28, at the FTUB's extraordinary plenary session Frants Vitko, Goncharik's first deputy, was elected the organization's new chair. (Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta, Interfax/ Belapan, December 27)

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS DEMAND REPEAL OF ILLEGAL DECREE

In an open letter to Alexander Lukashenko, Ron Oswald, Secretary General of the International Union of Food and Tobacco Industry Workers, Restaurant and Hotel Service, called Decree # 1804 "the latest infringement of fundamental trade union rights in Belarus." He said that the prohibition of non-cash transfer of trade union dues "an outrageous violation of the International Labor Organization's Convention # 87, that establishes an universal right of the worker for free associations." By depriving the trade union members of the possibility for non-cash transfers, this decree immediately puts at risk financial independence of the trade unions needed to defend the labor and living conditions of the Belarusian workers effectively, Oswald said in the letter. On behalf of more than 11 millions workers of the Union, he called upon the Lukashenko government to cancel the decree as it violates international law and practice and international norms. "IUF will support the fight of the trade unions in your country to annul this odious decree, employing all our means, and we would regularly inform our members of the progress in settling this situation," Oswald concluded. (Charter 97, December 27)

WITNESSES TELL ABOUT CRUEL TREATMENT OF DEATH SQUAD VICTIMS

Judge Alexander Simonov of the Minsk Region Court continued to examine key witnesses 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, and two abductions, including the kidnapping of journalist Dmitry Zavadsky, ORT cameraman in Belarus. On December 26, the court summoned witnesses who agreed to testify only on the condition that Ignatovich and his accomplices would be temporarily removed from the courtroom. Their testimonies proved the defendants' connections with the Belarusian secret services and their involvement in bloody crimes. One of the witnesses, who fearing for his safety, voluntarily chose to testify from a metal cage, told the court that the death squad was extremely cruel with its victims. According to him, Ignatovich learnt the barbaric methods of handling them either in Chechnya or from the Russian or Belarusian secret services. The lawyers do not rule out that Zavadsky could have been exposed to similar treatment. (Charter 97, December 28)

LOCAL NGOs RECEIVE HEAVY FINES FOR VIOLATION OF DECREE #8

On December 27, the Gomel City Court fined Gart, a Gomel-based youth center, BYR1 million ($637), for an alleged violation of presidential Decree #8 "Several Measures on Improving Distribution and Use of Foreign Humanitarian Aid," which banned foreign donations to NGOs that are involved in any political activities or election monitoring. Before the September 9 presidential elections, local KGB confiscated the organization's office equipment and found in the database information related to the election campaign of opposition candidate Vladimir Goncharik. The organization is to appeal the court's decision in the Regional Court.

In early August, after the local KGB had initiated a criminal investigation against the Civic Initiative, a Grodno-based NGO, for slandering the Belarusian president, the police conducted a search in the organization's office and confiscated all computer equipment. Later, the case was dropped, but the organization's numerous requests to return the equipment fell on a deaf ear. Instead, the KGB ordered the State Tax Committee of Zheleznodorozhny District of Gomel to audit the NGO, which ended on November 27 and resulted in imposing a fine of BYR6 million ($3,822). Now, if the court confirms the fact of violation of the Decree #8, the Civic Initiative will be on the verge of closure. (Viasna Human Rights Center, December 28)

ACTIVISTS FIRED FOR PARTICIPATION IN ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Local opposition activists continue to report to Viasna Human Rights Center about their hardships after serving as independent observers at the presidential election this past September.

On December 20, Yury Kokhna, a former worker of Azot (Nitrogen), Grodno-based Chemical Plant, informed the Center that he is still unable to find a job after being fired, without cause, in late October for observing election process at the polling station of Zhukevichy village, Grodno Region. While handing the pink slip to the activist, the administration's representative sarcastically told him: "Now you'll have plenty of free time to be involved in politics!"

On December 21, Sergei Lashkevich, a former worker of Rutkevichy Factory, Grodno Region, informed Viasna that the factory's administration told him to start looking for another job. During the election campaign, Lashkevich worked was a member of Semyon Domash's initiative group and collected signatures in his support. When Domash withdrew his candidature, Lashkevich continued to work for Vladimir Goncharik.

Maksim Stasukevich worked as a manager of the Entertainment department of Parechcha, Grodno Region, health center. He lost his job in late September after the management had been informed about Stasukevich's detention by the police for distributing the leaflets in support of Vladimir Goncharik.

On September 13, Nelly Shloida from Molodechno, Minsk Region, was fired from her position as a drugstore manager after being a district coordinator for a local domestic observation organization. Four times, Nelly appealed against her dismissal. However, the Moskovsky District Court of Minsk denied the reinstatement of employment to her. (Viasna Human Rights Center, December 28)

EDITOR OF OPPOSITION PAPER LOOSES HIS ENTREPRENEURIAL LICENSE

Viktor Andreyev, editor of the Kutseyna opposition daily in Orsha, Vitebsk region,
lost his commercial license due to "illegal activities." The local authorities seemed to ignore the fact that since the newspaper's closure in January 2000, Andreyev was not involved in any entrepreneurial activities at all. The Orsha-based Filon Kmita Center was forced to stop publishing Kutseyna after the paper was denied official registration. The daily was known for its critical reports on the Lukashenko government. Despite repeated appeals from foreign and domestic human rights observers, the paper was not registered and did not reopen. (Viasna Human Rights Center, December 28)

- BROTHER SLAVS-

PUTIN, LUKASHENKO DISCUSS PRIORITIES OF RUSSIA-BELARUS UNION

On December 26, Alexander Lukashenko complained that Russia was dragging its feet on the union between the two Slav neighbors. While attending a summit of the Union's Supreme State Council with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Lukashenko said that either there must be either some "real progress in integration or the plans for union scaled back." "I am worried about the lack of necessary dynamism in the process of integration of our two countries, especially in establishing a common economic space," the Belarusian leader said on Russian television. "We have to act in a balanced and thorough way but we cannot be oblivious to time. Either we implement what we agreed or we make necessary changes to our plans and disclose them," he said, adding that he was still as firmly committed to the idea of the Union. "To disassociate myself from that would amount to political suicide," Lukashenko concluded.

Putin, however, warned against moving hastily. "The success of Russian-Belarusian integration rests on it being a gradual process. You can avoid losing tempo while not trying to jump ahead. Only steps that are fully considered and agreed upon will allow us to carry out our plans," he said.

Both Putin and Lukashenko formally agree that the main task of the union was the establishment of a common market between the two countries, the formation of a unified labor and defense policies, and the unification of tariffs.

Russia and Belarus signed a formal union treaty on December 8, 1999. However, significant economic disparity between the two countries has prevented any real union between them so far. (Itar-Tass/ Izvestia/ RosBusinessConsulting Database, December 26)

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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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