INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE
Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 5, No. 4
January 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:

- Regime Denies Entry Visa To Ex-OSCE Chief
- OSCE PA Delegation Cancels Visit To Belarus
- New PACE Head: Belarus Remains A Problem
- Wives Of Disappeared Address PACE
- More On War Against Corruption
- Zubr Activists Charged With Slandering Lukashenko
- Human Rights Advocate Harassed By Official Bar
- Harassment Of Media and Anti-Catholic Campaign Continue
- U.S. Senator: Belarus - Opportunities Squandered

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS-

REGIME DENIES ENTRY VISA TO EX-OSCE CHIEF

Belarusian authorities announced January 24 that Amb. Hans-Georg Wieck, former head of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus, was denied an entry visa. Amb. Wieck applied for the visa to take part in the first session of the International Monitoring Council of the Center for European and Trans-Atlantic Studies at the European Humanities University, scheduled for January 25-26 in Minsk. Last December, Amb. Wieck applied to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry for a visa but had not received any response. In early January, he resubmitted his application to the Belarusian embassy in Berlin. On January 23, the Belarusian authorities informed Wieck that he was denied entry to Belarus.

"The visa denial coincided in time with a series of other negative decisions, passed by the Belarusian authorities, touching upon the creation of favorable conditions for the improvement of relations between the country and the European institutes," commented Amb. Wieck.

Pavel Latushko, press-secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, explained that Wieck had been denied entry "in connection with his activity on Belarus territory, where he had broken the government's trust."

On January 18, speaking at a seminar in Potsdam, Germany, titled "On Political Prospects for Belarus," Amb. Wieck noted that the tensions between OSCE and official Minsk continue to build up. It remains unclear whether his successor will be granted an entry visa. "The Belarusian leadership wants international recognition, while applying harsh measures against the civil society," Amb. Wieck commented.

On January 24, Sergei Kostyan, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on International Affairs and Relations with CIS Countries, told Belapan that during a recent meeting with Mikhail Khvostov, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, the members of his Committee came to a conclusion that "the further presence of AMG OSCE in Belarus is not necessary."

Amb. Wieck had repeated run-ins with the authoritarian administration of Alexander Lukashenko before he stepped down from his post last December and returned home to Germany. On numerous occasions, the regime labelled Amb. Wieck a "spy" who must leave the country or face expulsion. Before the presidential elections, Sovetskaya Belorussiya, a state-controlled newspaper, alleged that the OSCE mission was acting as an umbrella for Western spy services allegedly plotting to overthrow the Belarusian president. (Belapan, January 23)

OSCE PA DELEGATION CANCELS VISIT TO BELARUS

On January 23, Adrian Severin, chair of the OSCE PA Ad Hoc Working Group on Belarus, told the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg that the Belarusian authorities, which have been pursuing a policy of self-isolation, are responsible for deteriorating relations between Belarus and the democratic international community. Severin announced that a delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly headed by Uta Zapf (MP, Germany), the newly appointed head of the Working Group and a member of the German Bundestag, would not visit Belarus in February, as previously planned, because "the Belarusian authorities have set unacceptable conditions for the visit." [When asked by a Belapan correspondent about those conditions, Pavel Latushko, press-secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, said that he is not in the position to answer this question.-Ed.] "We do not intend to bend our principles, nor will we accept conditions for normalization that are imposed on us by threats," Severin said. The OSCE official also expressed concerns about the Belarusian government's "unfriendly" attitude toward activities by the OSCE AMG in Belarus.

Last November, two members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ad Hoc Working Group, Uta Zapf (MP, Germany), the newly appointed head of the Working Group, and Urban Ahlin (MP, Sweden) visited Belarus to assess the situation in the country and to discuss ways in which the Working Group could play a role in promoting democratization in the country. The delegation was seriously concerned by oppressive measures against opposition-oriented media outlets and certain political figures who played a role in the electoral campaigns of opposition candidates.

On January 24, Pavel Latushko, press-secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, told journalists in Minsk that Mikhail Khvostov sent a letter to Uta Zapf, in which he wrote that the Belarusian government attaches great importance to the OSCE PA Ad Hoc Working Group's visit to the country. In a move characterized as "hypocritical" by local reporters, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry official failed to inform journalists that the delegation had already canceled its visit. Instead, Latushko elaborated the contents of the letter, in which Khvostov noted that the Belarusian government viewed the Parliamentary group's main task as establishing a constructive dialogue between the OSCE PA's leadership and the Belarusian National Assembly, the only legally elected Belarus' legislature in the view of the Belarusian government. Belapan, January 23- 24)

NEW PACE HEAD: BELARUS REMAINS A PROBLEM

On January 22, Peter Schieder, newly elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, said in his inaugural speech that "Belarus remains a problem." "On the one hand, the attitude of the presidential regime has not changed and remains totally unacceptable in terms of democratic and human rights standards. On the other hand, isolation does little to change the status quo," stressed Schieder. He promised that the assembly will continue to pursue "its delicate diplomatic balancing act, between support for progressive forces in Belarus and the need to avoid condoning the dictatorial attitude of the present regime."

Also on January 22, Roman Jakic, head of the PACE Political Affairs Committee, said that the question of whether Belarus will regain its special guest status in PACE will depend on the findings of a special commission that is to be set up shortly within his committee.

In a speech to the winter session of the PACE, Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, reiterated that the presidential elections in Belarus did not meet democratic standards. "Willingness of the Belarusian authorities to stop international isolation requires clear signals from them, and it concerns the functions of parliament and the freedom of mass media," he said. "Today we are still waiting for concrete steps from the Belarusian side."

Walter Schwimmer met with Anatoly Lebedko, chair of the opposition United Civic Party, to discuss the situation in Belarus. "Belarus's road to the Council of Europe lies through changing the political climate in the country, releasing Andrei Klimov and other political prisoners, setting up an independent commission to investigate into disappearances, ensuring the opposition's access to state media, enlarging the parliament's functions and banning capital punishment," said Schwimmer during the meeting. (Belapan/ Interfax, January 23-24)

WIVES OF DISAPPEARED BELARUSIANS ADDRESS PACE

The wives of several prominent victims of the Lukashenko regime appealed to PACE urging it to launch an independent investigation into the political disappearances in Belarus. The women's delegation included Ludmila Karpenko, widow of Gennady Karpenko, Deputy Chair of the 13th Supreme Soviet, who died under mysterious circumstances on April 6, 1999; Irina Krasovskaya, wife of businessman Anatoly Krasovsky, who was a close friend of Victor Gonchar, 13th Supreme Soviet Deputy Chair, both of whom disappeared on September 16, 1999; Svetlana Zavadskaya, wife of Dmitry Zavadsky, a Belarusian cameraman for the Russian public television station ORT, who disappeared on July 7, 2000; and Tatiana Klimova, wife of Andrei Klimov, 13th Supreme Soviet Deputy, who has been imprisoned since February 1998, asked the PACE Sub-Committee on Human Rights to hold a hearing on the deaths, disappearances, and imprisonment of opposition figures in Belarus during its April session. "We are convinced that only independent investigation can reveal the real reasons for disappearances and murders of our relatives," the women wrote. A special group of fourteen experts of the PACE Political Committee will pay a visit to Belarus to study the political situation in the country. (Belapan, January 23)

MORE ON WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION

Alexander Lukashenko is continuing his self-declared war on corruption, which opposition leaders and human rights activists fear is the latest in a series of moves aimed at silencing his most prominent and influential critics. On January 18, the Lukashenko decree "On Special Measures to Regulate Economic Relations" came into force. The decree allows extra-judicial expropriations and awards sweeping powers to the State Control Committee [State Economic Crimes Investigatory Committee].

Also on January 18, Nikolai Koroliuk, head of the Transport Prosecutor's Office, was dismissed from his post for "failure to perform his duties." "Numerous instances of corruption, abuses of power, embezzlement (e.g., purchases of fuel and lubricants at artificially inflated prices from related entities) at the Belarusian railways resulted in losses, which amount to tens of millions of dollars," said Victor Sheiman, Prosecutor General, in an interview to the Belarusian state TV. "The Transport Prosecutor's Office should have detected and thwarted them, but it failed to do that," he said. Last December, Viktor Rakhmanko, head of the country's railways, was charged with fiscal fraud and abuse of power.

On January 18, Nikolai Aksenov, deputy director of the Zhlobin Iron And Steel Factory, said that the amount of losses allegedly caused by several high-ranking executives, who were jailed for abuse of power and unlawful entrepreneurial activities, had been greatly exaggerated by the authorities. The Gomel Regional Committee on Organized Crime and Corruption cited the sum as great as BYR 111 million (about $70,000).

On January 21, the pre-trial detention of Leonid Kalugin, formerly the director of the Atlant refrigerator factory in Minsk, was extended until April 21, 2002, Kalugin's lawyer, Alexander Pylchenko, told Belapan. Kalugin was arrested on November 21 and charged with abuse of power, illegally conducting business, forging financial documents and failing to repatriate revenues from sales abroad. On January 9, he was forcefully taken to Navinki, the national hospital for mentally ill patients on the outskirts of Minsk "for an examination." Kalugin had tried to run against Lukashenko in a September presidential poll, but his nomination was rejected by the Central Electoral Commission.

On January 21, top executives of the Gomel Margarine Factory were arrested on charges of power abuse and large-scale embezzlement.

Unlike most Belarusian enterprises, the companies whose directors were arrested had actually turned profits in recent years. These days, the Minsk Tractor Factory, whose director Mikhail Leonov was arrested on January 8 and later charged with abuse of power, criminal negligence and large-scale bribery, is on the verge of collapse. On January 18 -19, the plant stopped its conveyor belt. Leonov's arrest has largely paralyzed the sales of the manufactured goods, said Vadim Bitsan, head of the factory's press-service. The factory's workers continue to collect signatures requesting the release of their director. Separately, Elena Leonova's request for a conjugal visit was denied. She was also was not allowed to represent her husband in court on the pretext that she is a witness in the case.

Theories abound, but there seems to be agreement among opposition politicians and independent observers that with these latest arrests, Lukashenko may be trying to kill two birds with one stone -- deflecting blame for the worsening economic situation while ridding himself of potential political opponents.

Vasily Leonov, a former Belarusian agriculture minister who himself spent several years behind bars on what many observers believe were largely trumped-up charges, says that directors of the country's large Soviet-era enterprises pose a serious political challenge to the country's president. Alexander Potupa, head of the Belarusian Union of Entrepreneurs, believes that "the government needs to explain to the people why the country is in such a crisis, and jailing leading businessmen does the trick."

"The latest arrests have nothing to do with combating corruption. They simply show how frightened the authorities are of the public's growing discontent with their policies," said Vyacheslav Orgich, a local political analyst. Also, by arresting directors, the authorities discourage businessmen from joining forces with the opposition, charged Orgich. "We should expect more arrests," he concluded.

While curbing reforms, the Belarus government has managed to maintain a minimum of social welfare programs, but failed to keep down soaring inflation, which stood at 46 percent last year and a staggering 207.5 percent in 2000. About 43 percent of the population lives below the poverty level, on less than two dollars a day, but many economists suggest that official figures only hide the full scale of poverty afflicting Belarus.

As with almost all political and economic issues in Belarus, there is also a Russian angle. Some observers point to the expanding government privatization efforts and maintain that the removal of key factory directors is a way to ensure that the Lukashenko-designed privatization plan proceeds unchecked.

"The new wave of arrests could be explained by the government's desire to get rid of the most talented directors before the Russian capital comes in and takes over," says Leonid Sinitsyn, a former presidential chief of staff and now an opposition member.

"Lukashenko is planning a soft privatization of industrial enterprises and it's necessary to put these directors in their place so they don't think of taking any measures to influence this privatization," commented Victor Ivashkevich, a deputy chair of the BPF Adradzhenne. (BBC/Radio Racyja/ Belapan/ RFE/RL, January 22-25)

ZUBR'S PRESS-SECRETARY CHARGED WITH SLANDERING LUKASHENKO

Alexander Otroschenkov, press secretary of the youth movement known as Zubr (Bison), has been charged with slandering the Belarusian president under Art 368, par. 1, of the Belarusian Penal Code, which makes insulting the president a crime punishable by up to five years of imprisonment. In an interview with Charter 97, Otroschenkov said that after the presidential elections campaign, the regime launched criminal investigation against about 15 Zubr activists. They all were accused of defaming Lukashenko. Otroschenkov was invited to take part in an international conference organized by Amnesty International in Germany in early February 2002. He does not rule out that the criminal case against him was opened to prevent him from attending the conference. (Viasna Human Rights Center/ Charter 97, January 25)

PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE HARASSED BY OFFICIAL BAR

The Gomel Regional Bar Association has initiated an investigation into the activities of Dmitry Ivanishko, a prominent human rights advocate. Ivanishko represented Vladimir Revkov, deputy rector of the Gomel State Medical Institute, who in June 2001, along with Yuri Bandazhevsky, rector of the same institute, was sentenced to eight years in a hard-labor colony with confiscation of property under Art. 430, par. 2 of the Belarusian Penal Code on charges of taking bribes from college applicants. Belarusian human rights activists say the case against two prominent radiation specialists is connected to their frequent public criticism of the Lukashenko government's policy regarding regions contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The European Union's leadership announced its decision to consider Prof. Bandazhevsky a prisoner of conscience.

Ivanishko also represented Alexander Chigir, the youngest son of Mikhail Chigir, former prime minister and opposition leader. [The League has called for an impartial investigation of the case and fears that Chigir's son and his colleagues may have been targeted for Mikhail Chigir's outspoken resistance to the regime.-Ed]

Dmitry Ivanishko is also an attorney to Yuri Zaitsev, father of Andrei
Zaitsev, a 24-year-old Zubr activist, who committed suicide on December 20 after being repeatedly asked by KGB to become an informer. Yuri Zaitsev demands an impartial investigation into the circumstances of his son's death. (Charter 97, January 25)

NEW DRAFT OF MASS MEDIA LAW IN BREACH OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression, a London-based NGO, issued a memorandum on The Draft Law of the Republic of Belarus on the Introduction of Amendments and Additions to the Law on Press and Mass Media (Mass Media Law), which is currently pending in the Belarusian parliament. The law will effectively replace the 1995 Law on Press and Mass Media. The Memorandum says that the draft Mass Media Law contains a number of positive features, including guarantees for media freedom and access of the media to information held by public bodies, as well as a rule requiring provisions in the Mass Media Law to comply with international treaties signed by the Republic of Belarus. However, it also includes a large number of provisions which are in breach of international standards relating to freedom of expression and other provisions which, while not necessarily formally in breach of international law, are unnecessary or could be improved.

ARTICLE 19 expressed concerns about the following aspects of the law:

· Regulatory issues, including registration, independence of regulatory bodies, self-regulation, regulation of journalists and broadcasting;
· Content issues, including false news and positive obligations on the media;
· Freedom of information;
· Protection of sources; and
· Penalties.

The Memorandum outlines the obligations of Belarus to promote and protect freedom of expression under international law. It describes the limited scope of restrictions on freedom of expression which international law permits, along with the test against which any restriction must be judged. It then goes on to assess the new Mass Media Law against these standards, highlighting some of ARTICLE 19's key concerns and recommendations on how to address these concerns. The Memorandum's full text can be found at: http://www.spring96.org/English/index.html

LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER EDITOR STANDS TRIAL

On January 22, Alexander Scherbak, editor-in-chief of Shklouskiya Naviny [Shklov News], a Belarusian-language independent newspaper from Shklov, Mogilev Region, stood trial for alleged violation of the Press Law. The Shklov District prosecutor accused the editor of exceeding the officially-approved circulation for such publications, which is set at 299 copies. Scherbak, former director of the Gorodets collective farm, has been publishing the newspaper for the last ten years. On September 6, 2001, on the eve of the presidential elections, the law-enforcers broke into his apartment and seized the computer. Scherbak was informed that his phone number was found in a notepad of one of the local Zubr activists. The trial was postponed until January 28 due to the failure of the Prosecutor's Office to send a its representative to the hearing. (Viasna Human Rights Center, January 24)

PACE MEMBERS DISCUSS SITUATION WITH MASS MEDIA IN BELARUS

On January 24, the Committee on Education, Culture and Mass Media of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, discussed the status of the mass media in Belarus. Five independent journalists and representatives of the Belarusian Association of Journalists told Committee members about the latest violations of freedom of expression in Belarus, including the closure of Pahonia, an independent newspaper, and denial of air time to the "Voice of the Soul," a Catholic religious radio program. The Belarusian journalists expressed concern over the new amendments and additions to the Mass Media Law which will soon be enacted by Lukashenko's rubber-stamp parliament.

Mikhail Podgainy, head of the Information Ministry, who was also present at the meeting, assured Louis-Mary Puis, Committee Chair, that many "restrictive" articles of the law on mass media would be reconsidered. He also promised to make the second national TV channel independent and to order it to allocate air time for the opposition members. Given the Belarusian government's track record on suppression of the media, both Europeans and Belarusian observers were skeptical of the promises, designed to distract from actual poor performance.

Deputy Losev of the House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly, commented that the authorities cannot allow opposition politicians to speak on TV because "those politicians do not recognize the current Constitution." (Belapan/ Charter 97/ILHR, January 25)

-RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN BELARUS-

ANTI-CATHOLIC CAMPAIGN CONTINUES

In its last issue of the year 2001, Vitebsky Rabochy (Vitebsk Worker), a newspaper owned by the local administration, published an anonymous article entitled "Curb Catholic Expansion!", which attacked the Roman Catholic Church and called for a halt to its activities. The article warned that Catholics represent a serious threat to the "traditional" Russian Orthodoxy, thus affecting the "country's security and psychological health of Belarusians, particularly the young generation." The author of the article called on the authorities to take "concrete steps" to protect the Russian Orthodoxy, arguing that Catholic institutions should be banned since "they are liable to entice our children from Orthodoxy into Catholicism."

Vladimir Romanovsky, Vitebsky Rabochy's editor-in-chief, has strongly defended his decision to publish the article. "It wasn't religious intolerance. The article contained only facts," he told Keston News Service by telephone from Vitebsk on January 16. Romanovsky refused to tell who wrote the article, saying only that the author was a journalist. He denied that the article had been written by anyone in the local administration, the KGB or the Orthodox Church.

On January 4, the Vitebsky Kuryer, a local independent newspaper, published a rebuttal of the Vitebsky Rabochy article, calling it anti-Catholic and inciting religious hatred.

On January 6, 2002, allegedly responding to the letters of "unsatisfied listeners," the authorities closed Golas Dushi (the Voice of the Soul), a Belarusian-language religious program prepared by Fr. Vladimir Zavalnyuk, a Roman Catholic priest of the church of Sts. Simon and Helen in Minsk. The program was broadcast by the main channel of the Belarusian State Radio in all six Belarusian regions.

Vladimir Martynov, head of Belarusian first national radio channel, has refused to explain to Keston why the regular Sunday morning live transmission of the Catholic Mass was abruptly halted and who had ordered it. "You have incorrect information," Martynov told Keston by telephone from Minsk on January 14 and hung up.

Elena Babak, head of the cultural programming at the Belarusian first national radio channel, also declined to say who had ordered the cancellation of the Catholic Mass broadcast. Speaking to Keston, she denied that the state authorities, the KGB or the Orthodox Church had put pressure on the station. She claimed there was nothing special in the decision and that it was merely part of their "renewal of the schedules." Babak also said that her station had received "signals" from listeners about the cancellation of the program.

She added that the station is working on a new weekly 15-minute program where a Catholic priest would give a sermon. Asked which Catholic representatives they had discussed the new plans with she admitted they had not discussed them with the Catholic Church. "We're not discussing it with anyone yet," she said.

Fr. Zavalnyuk told Keston from Minsk on 15 January that he was "very optimistic" that the "misunderstanding" would be resolved and that the broadcasting of the Mass would resume on a regular basis. "We pray for a sensible solution." He pointed out that the broadcast had many listeners among the elderly and the sick who could not come to church. "They like to pray at home. Such broadcasts are quite normal in Western countries and should be here also."

Most broadcasting stations in Belarus are state-controlled. National television has no regular religious broadcasts, but the first national radio channel broadcasts regular Orthodox readings and music on Saturday evenings. Some FM radio stations also occasionally carry Christian programming.

Archimandrite Ioann of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate confirmed to Keston that his church's half-hour program on Saturday evenings and a fifteen-minute sermon on Sunday mornings on the same channel are continuing.

The League is concerned about these indications of a growing anti-Catholic sentiment and suppression of minority religions now that Alexander Lukashenko and his government have declared that the preservation and development of Orthodox Christianity is a "moral necessity." Over the last two years, a series of documentaries by Belarusian state TV and Radio company, entitled "Expansion," targeted Protestants, primarily Pentecostals, and Catholics, as "destructive groups" that engage in "fanatical rituals" and "pose a threat to society." In a twist of the age-old "blood libel" often used to persecute Jews, the documentaries alleged that Protestant communities carry out fanatical rituals, including the ritual use of human blood and human sacrifice. They claimed that non-Orthodox groups threaten Orthodox priests with physical violence, and erode the national-religious consciousness of the Belarusian people.

Another series shown on state television accused Protestant churches of engaging in human sacrifices and poisoning children. Protestant groups were called "agents of the West" who should be banned from Belarus. Efforts by Catholic and Protestant church leaders to halt these broadcasts were rejected by the authorities and the courts. (Keston News Service/ ILHR, January 16)

U.S. SENATOR: BELARUS - OPPORTUNITIES SQUANDERED

On January 24, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission of the U.S. Congress),
made the following statement on Belarus:

"Mr. President, periodically, I have addressed my colleagues in the United States Senate on developments in the last dictatorship in Europe -- Belarus. More than five months have passed since the September 9, 2001 Belarusian Presidential elections, which the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as well as the Helsinki Commission, which I chair, concluded did not meet international democratic standards. Since that time, the Belarusian leadership has had ample opportunity to begin to live up to its freely-undertaken OSCE human rights and democracy commitments. Thus far, these opportunities have been squandered. As Secretary of State Powell remarked in his speech at the December 2001 meeting of OSCE Ministers in Bucharest: "The Government of Belarus ignored the recommendations of the OSCE on what conditions would need to be established in order for free and fair elections to take place. It is unfortunate, indeed, that the government of Belarus continues to act in a manner that excludes Belarus from the mainstream of European political life."

"Since September, human rights violations have continued. There has been no progress with respect to resolving the cases of opposition leaders and journalists who "disappeared" in 1999-2000. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has retaliated against opposition members, independent journalists, human rights activists and others, especially young people. Beatings, detentions, fines and other forms of pressure have continued unabated. To cite just one example, two defendants in a criminal case against Alexander Chigir, son of leading Lukashenko opponent and former Prime Minister, Mikhail Chigir, were reportedly beaten and otherwise maltreated during pre-trial detention. Criminal cases have been launched against journalists and NGOs as well. A number of leading industrialists have been arrested on what some observers believe are politically motivated charges."

"Freedom of religion is also an area of concern. The registration scheme, required for a group to obtain full legal rights, is the ultimate 'catch-22.' Registration cannot be granted without a legal address; a legal address cannot be obtained without registration. Even the state controlled media is a concern for religious freedom, due to the highly critical reports in newspapers and television about the Catholic Church and Protestant churches. Very recently, the regular broadcast on national radio of a Minsk Catholic mass was unexpectedly halted."

"Efforts to promote human rights and expand support and develop civil society in Belarus are being thwarted. The Belarusian government has threatened the OSCE Mission in Minsk with what amounts to expulsion unless the mandate of the Mission is changed more to its liking and has shown reluctance to accept a new Head of Mission. It is vital that the OSCE be allowed to continue its important work in developing genuine democratic institutions and a strong civil society in Belarus."

"Mr. President, I am also deeply troubled by allegations that Belarus has been acting as a supplier of lethal military equipment to Islamic terrorists, a charge that the Belarusian Government has denied. I ask unanimous consent that the text of a recent article that appeared in the Washington Post titled "Europe's Armory for Terrorism" appear in the Record at this time."

"Mr. President, the troubling allegations contained in this article are a reminder of the importance of remaining steadfast in supporting democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Belarus. The lack of functioning democratic institutions, including an independent parliament, together with suppression of free media contribute to an environment void of accountability. Writing off Belarus as a backwater in the heart of Europe would play into the hands of the Lukashenko regime with disastrous consequences not only for the Belarusian people. Mr. President, it is more important than ever for the OSCE to maintain a strong presence on the ground in Belarus and for the United States to continue to support democratic development in that country."

The Commission's work on issues surrounding Belarus and the Lukashenko regime may be accessed through the Internet at: http://www.csce.gov/

-UPCOMING EVENTS-

From Febuary 3-10, 2001, the delegation of four Belarusian journalists will visit the US on the League's invitation. It will include Mikalai Markevich, editor-in-chief of Pahonia, an independent newspaper published in Grodno closed by Belarusian authorities in November 2001; Iosif Siaredzich, editor-in-chief of Narodnaya Volya, an independent newspaper published in Minsk, and is currently facing a criminal libel suit for critical coverage of Lukashenko; Andrei Bastunets, media lawyer and vice president of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, has been stripped of his law license for his effort to protect the media against government lawsuits; Viachaslau Khadasousky, editor-in-chief of Belarusky rynok, the first independent paper to cover business and economic developments in Belarus.

They are available in New York from Monday, Feb. 4 through Tuesday evening, Feb. 5 and again in New York Friday evening, Feb. 8 through their departure Sunday, Feb. 10. They will be available for meetings in Washington, DC from Wednesday, Feb. 6 through the evening of Friday, Feb. 8.

We hope you will join us in greeting these courageous individuals and hear their important story about a country in crisis which can be helped with American focus and persistence in promoting democracy and human rights.
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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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