INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE

Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 5, No. 20

May 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:

- U.S. Urges Belarus To Cooperate With OSCE
- Opposition Activist Missing In Belarus?
- Trial Of Pahonia Journalists Postponed Again
- Human Rights Federation: Situation In Belarus Getting Worse
- More Restrictions On Freedom Of Assembly
- PACE Holds Hearings On Political Disappearances In Belarus
- Court To Look Into Death Of Zubr Activist
- Jewish Community Condemns Monopolization Of Media By State
- Writers Accuse Regime Of Destroying Cultural Heritage
- Lukashenko Says Russia Has No Imperialistic Ambitions
- Belarus, Turkmenistan Agree On Closer Military Cooperation

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS-

U.S. URGES BELARUS TO COOPERATE WITH OSCE

The government of Belarus "has spurned every opportunity to forge a continued or even a modified relationship" with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Douglas A. Davidson, charge d'affaires of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE, told the Permanent Council in Vienna on May 16. Davidson said the United States supports various OSCE efforts to "serve as a bridge for Belarus to integrate itself more fully into the international community," stressing that "cooperation requires two partners and this kind of cooperation is clearly lacking today."

Following are excerpts from his statement:

"Mr. Chairman, let me say at the outset that you have demonstrated exceptional perseverance and exceptional good faith in your efforts to forge continued cooperation between the OSCE and Belarus. Your appointment of Ambassador Heineken as a Special Envoy to Belarus, your participation in extensive consultations with Belarus over the work of the Advisory and Monitoring Group (AMG), and your presentation for
consideration by this Council of Belarus' own draft decision on consultations all reflect this good faith."

"Yet it seems to us that while Belarus has professed equal commitment to cooperation, it has not demonstrated that at all. In fact, it has spurned every opportunity to forge a continued or even a modified relationship. It has rejected your appointment of Ambassador Heineken; it has expelled the Acting Head of Mission and it appears that it
intends to expel the Political Officer of the AMG; and, as we have seen today, it continues to reject consideration of the AMG among the `further forms of cooperation' it suggests with the OSCE."

"This latest development to us is particularly striking when we note that just three weeks ago, at the April 25 Permanent Council, Ambassador Gaisenok himself said, 'we expect an official decision of the OSCE Permanent Council to be taken on the holding of consultations to review the mandate of the AMG.' We would also note that just five
months ago, Belarus itself introduced a decision to 'streamline the activities of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus within its respective mandate.' Apparently, notwithstanding what Belarus has itself said in the recent past, it is no longer interested in either the AMG or its mandate."

"Mr. Chairman, the United States continues to believe that the OSCE, through its mission in Belarus, can and should serve as a bridge for Belarus to integrate itself more fully into the international community, which I believe is a goal that we all share. We support your efforts to continue cooperation with Belarus. However, in our opinion, cooperation requires two partners and this kind of cooperation is clearly lacking today."

"We, therefore, call upon Belarus to cooperate with the OSCE and its mission in Belarus. Unless such a change occurs, we must conclude that Belarus has rejected the path of cooperation. It will then be up to us, the international community, to decide how to respond." (USIA, May 17)

OPPOSITION ACTIVIST MISSING IN BELARUS?

Nina Korban, mother of Yuras Korban, 24, has filed an appeal with the Belarusian Prosecutor's Office demanding further investigation into her son's disappearance. Korban has been missing since Jan. 20 of this year. He had been serving as head of Kontur (Contour), a Vitebsk-based Center of Civic Initiatives and as the deputy chair of the Vitebsk Regional branch of the BPF Adradzhenne (Popular Front--Renewal).

At first, when he didn't come home in the evening of the 19th, his mother received a phone call from him on Jan. 20 saying he planned to return. On Jan. 23, he called his mother again to say that he had been abducted and would be home shortly if he could raise the ransom for his release. He asked her not to warn the police about the abduction and come to Minsk on Jan. 28 with the money. On the phone, Yuras's voice sounded different, which made his mother believe that he had been beaten and his nose or jaw may have been hurt. His mother did as she was told, but when she arrived to Minsk, no one met her at the rail station. After waiting in vain for hours, she returned home, hoping to hear from her son again soon. When a week passed without any news from Yuras, she filed a missing person report with the police. On February 12, the Zheleznodorozhny District Internal Affairs Directorate (the police) of Vitebsk launched a criminal investigation into the case. On April 12, however, the case was closed due to the expiration of two month period required by the law to complete the preliminary investigation. After Ms. Korban appealed to the Prosecutor's Office, the inquiry term was extended until May 26. She told journalists in Minsk that she believes that the demand for ransom was a disguise to hide the real reason for her son's abduction: revenge for his opposition activities. She also complained that the police were not investigating the disappearance. (Local human rights activists have not been able to confirm or deny that the disappearance is politically-motivated-Ed.) (Belapan, May 15)

TRIAL OF PAHONIA JOURNALISTS POSTPONED AGAIN

On May 16, the trial of Mikalai Markevich, editor-in-chief of Pahonia, an independent newspaper, and Pavel Mazeika, a Pahonia journalist, was postponed until June 4 due to the illness of the state prosecutor. The pair had been indicted on February 13-14, 2002 by the Grodno Regional Prosecutor's Office under Art. 367, par. 2 of the Belarusian Penal Code for allegedly defaming the Belarusian President. If found guilty, the journalists face up to five years in prison. A large group of journalists, diplomats and human-rights activists arrived to Grodno from Minsk to attend the hearing. Markevich commented that the trial had been postponed because the authorities did not want to hear the case in their presence.

On May 16, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee issued a statement condemning the prosecution of the Pahonia journalists and protested freedom of speech freedom violations in the country. "The trial of journalism has nothing to do with justice," the Committee said in the statement. It appealed to the democratic international community to support the Belarusian journalist in their struggle for democracy and freedom of speech. (Belapan, May 16-17 )

HUMAN RIGHTS FEDERATION: SITUATION IN BELARUS GETTING WORSE

The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (NB: a separate organization note related to ILHR-Ed.) expressed deep concern about grave infringements of human rights standards in Belarus following the September 2001 presidential elections. In an open letter to Alexander Lukashenko, Sidiki Kaba, IFHR's president, questioned the political will of the Belarusian government to improve its relations with the international community, citing as evidence continuous attacks on the independent press and peaceful demonstrators, and the refusal to extend the visa of the acting head of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group Mission in Belarus.

Kaba also expressed concern regarding the lack of information on political disappearances in the country. "The authorities did not undertake all necessary measures to investigate the disappearances of well-known opposition political figures," he said in the letter. He expressed down as to whether Valery Ignatovich and Maksim Malik, who had been convicted for kidnapping journalist Dmitry Zavadsky, are really those who abducted him. "These doubts are founded on several violations of fundamental rules of judicial procedure and also on quite contradictory and confusing testimonies," he said in the letter. Kaba cited the disappearance since January 19, 2002, of Yuras Korban as the most recent example.

The Federation protested the closure of Vezha [Tower], a Brest-based information center, on the grounds that the organization received two warnings within one year under the associations' law. "This is in gross violation of the commitments undertaken by Belarus to uphold international standards for freedom of speech and assembly," it said in the letter.

The organization condemned the Belarusian authorities for severely restricting workers' rights to associate freely, organize, and bargain collectively; and for cutting off resources to the trade unions by prohibiting employers from withholding union dues.

The Federation's president denounced the circular sent out by the Belarusian Ministry of Justice, to all political parties to provide the authorities with the lists of their members by February 28, 2002, as violation of the freedom of assembly. As of May 10, nine parties were threatened by closure due to the failure to submit the required information.

The organization also expressed concern about the fate of Prof. Yuri Bandazhevsky, who in June 2001 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. Many local and international observers believe that the former rector of the Gomel State Medical Institute, is innocent and that his the case against Bandazhevsky and Vladimir Revkov, deputy rector of the same institute, is connected to their frequent public criticism of the Lukashenko government's policy regarding regions contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

The Federation urged the Belarusian leader to respect the freedom of expression and demonstration which are guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Political and Civic Rights ratified by the Republic of Belarus; to seize harassment of human rights defenders and to release Prof. Bandazhevsky. (IFHR, May 10)

MORE RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

The Lukashenko regime continues to restricts the right for freedom of peaceful assembly.
The Presidential Administration has submitted to the Belarusian National Assembly [Lower Chamber of Parliament] certain amendments to the Law On Political Parties and NGOs and to the Law on Mass Actions. The proposed changes further limit citizens' ability to assemble peacefully and will allow the authorities to close the political party or NGO for a single violation of the amended law. Under the proposed amendments, political parties will be responsible for maintaining public order during protest actions. Even a picket held by one person will be considered a "mass action." "The amendments actually mean a ban on political parties," commented Sergei Gaidukevich, chair of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus. (Radio Racyja, May 16)

PACE HOLDS HEARINGS ON POLITICAL DISAPPEARANCES IN BELARUS

On May 18, about three dozen people took part in the action "Chain of People Who Care" in Paris near the building where the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly held hearings on political disappearances in Belarus. The picketers called on the PACE to ensure independent, impartial investigations and prosecutions of persons threatening and harassing human rights defenders. The wives and mothers of several prominent victims of the Lukashenko regime and leaders of the country's opposition urged the Committee to establish an independent international commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disappearance and probable deaths of their relatives. "We have exhausted the possibilities to learn the truth about the faith of our husbands," they said. The relatives of missing persons called on French leadership to raise the issue in Moscow during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Radio Racyja, May 18)

COURT TO LOOK INTO DEATH OF ZUBR ACTIVIST

On May 13, Alexander Fedortsov, Chief Judge of the Gomel Regional Court ordered the Sovetsky District Court of Gomel to consider a complaint filed Yuri Zaitsev, father of Andrei Zaitsev, a 24-year-old Zubr activist, who committed suicide on December 20, 2001. In February 2002, Vladimir Podsekin, Prosecutor of the Sovetsky District of Gomel, refused to open an investigation into the case. Friends and family say Andrei was repeatedly asked by KGB to become an informer and had resisted. They believe that the name of the KGB officer, who tried to recruit Andrei, is Alexander Yastremsky (or possibly spelled "Estremsky"--Ed). On an audio cassette found at the Zubr activist's apartment after his death, Yastremsky introduces himself as "Lt. Alexander Yevstigneyev." KGB officials deny that there is an employee with that last name. Andrei also left behind a copy of a letter he had sent to the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, detailing his recruitment by the KGB and a request for protection. (Viasna Human Rights Center, May 15)

JEWISH COMMUNITY CONDEMNS MONOPOLIZATION OF MEDIA BY STATE

On May 13, Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, a Washington-based NGO with offices in the former Soviet Union, including Minsk, has denounced the Belarusian authorities' decision to merge into a joint company a number of the Belarusian language periodicals. Polymia (The Flame), Maladost' (The Youth), Krynitsa (The Spring), Neman (Russian language magazine), and Litaratura i Mastatstva (The Literature and Art), weekly magazine, will be censored and published by Lukashenko's immediate circle of appointees.

Sergei Kostyan, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on International Affairs and Relations with CIS Countries, who became the manager of the media holding, is infamous for his activities in the Slaviansky Sobor movement, and is neither a writer, nor a professional editor. The Jewish community remains concerned that the Lukashenko regime plans to promote greater unity with Russia may be accompanied by political appeals to groups in Russia that tolerate or promote anti-Semitism. Lukashenko's calls for "Slavic solidarity" are well received and supported by anti-Semitic, neo-Fascist organizations in Russia. The concept of a "greater Slavic union," the leadership of which Lukashenko seeks, is a source of concern to the Jewish community given the nature of support that it engenders. Kostyan publicly supported the recent publication of a book titled "War According to the Laws of Enmity" and a reprint of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and other anti-Semitic "academic literature." Along with an anti- Semitic writer Eduard Skobelev, Kostyan is one of the members of the Commission for the registration of public organizations.

Immediately after assuming his responsibilities, Kostyan fired all editors and appointed Nina Chaika, editor and producer of Belarusian State Radio, the chief editor of Neman. Chaika is notorious for her harsh comments directed against the Jewish community and the evangelical churches in Belarus and a fervent supporter of the concept that the Belarusian Orthodox Church represent the only "traditional religion" in Belarus. She used to host "Sacred and Secular," a scandalously chauvinistic radio program, in which Kostyan participated several times with openly neo-Nazi speeches. At the first meeting of the editorial board, Chaika declared that she was going to get rid of the "spirit of Zionism" in the magazine's publications.

Nikolai Metlitski, who was appointed the editor of Polymia, was denote in one of the issues of the magazine as a KGB agent. Krynitsa will be headed by Vyacheslav Dashkevich, infamous for his publications in Slaviansky Nabat (The Slavic Tocsin) for "unmasking" Zionists and democrats.

Evgeny Novikov, host of "Human Rights: Worldwide Review," an analytical program broadcast by the Belarusian State Television and Radio Company, launched to protect the dominance of the Russian Orthodox Church and impede the growth of minority religions,
will be one of Kostyan's deputies. Both Kostyan and Novikov recently visited the editorial staff of all magazines for to "educate" them.

The management of the Rada (Council) of the Belarusian Writers' Union did not approve any of these appointments. The Union received an ultimatum either to give up control over Litaratura i Mastatstva and Krynitsa or lose government financing.

"The Belarusian regime has made one more step in its practice of suppressing civil freedoms and human rights. The creation of this media holding contradicts to the Art 33, par. 3 of the Belarusian Constitution," the Union said in the statement. "The monopolization of the media by the state, public associations or individuals, as well as censorship, are illegal." (The Union of Councils of Soviet Jewry, May 13)

WRITERS ACCUSE REGIME OF DESTROYING CULTURAL HERITAGE

On May 16, the Rada (Council) of the Belarusian Writers' Union issued a statement condemning the authorities' anti-national policy. Faithful to its commitment to curtail and belittle the Belarusian cultural heritage, the Lukashenko regime continues to discriminate against people promoting their native Belarusian traditions and literature, the writers said in the statement. In April 2002, the authorities appointed a new head of the Litaratura i Mastatstva (The Literature and Art) magazine, previously published by the Union. "In violation of the law, we are now deprived of the opportunity to share with compatriots our love for the native language and centuries-old national symbols," the writers said.
They also condemned the government for destroying the Belarusian-language education system.

In May 1995, Lukashenko held a referendum that resulted in making Russian an official state language, on par with Belarusian. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 1995, only the Belarusian had had the status of the state language. Abruptly reversing the efforts of the 1991-1994 nationwide program to revive Belarusian culture long repressed under communism, the Lukashenko administration has closed virtually all Belarusian schools, put a chokehold on independent Belarusian-language publications, causing their numbers to dwindle (some have been forced to publish abroad), altogether banned the publication of textbooks in Belarusian, and criminalized the display of national symbols. Lukashenko clarified the philosophy behind his language policies to the people of Belarus in a widely broadcast statement that Russian and English are the only languages in the world in which one can fully express one's thoughts. (Belapan, May 16)

- BROTHER SLAVS -

LUKASHENKO SAYS RUSSIA HAS NO IMPERIALISTIC AMBITIONS

On May 14, Alexander Lukashenko denied accusations that Russia still seeks to exert imperialistic control over the countries of former Soviet Union. Though former Soviet republics may fall under Russia's influence due to its size and the important place it held in the Soviet state, Moscow does not intend to re-establish itself as the Big Brother, Lukashenko said in a midnight interview broadcast on the ORT Russian State TV channel. "My counterpart Vladimir Putin has no imperialistic leanings, I am sure, he just assured me today that Russia would never try to pressure anyone. He even said, in a very practical manner, that it costs too much money to do so," Lukashenko added. In December 1999, Russia and Belarus signed a union treaty which largely remains a dead letter because of the economic disparities between Russia and economically-backward Belarus. (Belapan, May 15)

- INTERNATIONAL NEWS-

BELARUS, TURKMENISTAN AGREE ON CLOSER MILITARY COOPERATION

On May 17, Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov and Alexander Lukashenko said they intended to boost their countries' cooperation in "the military and technical sphere."
Winding up his three-day visit to Turkmenistan, Lukashenko said that Belarus was also "closely studying the issue of oil and gas production in Turkmenistan." The Turkmen Defense Ministry's delegation is planning to visit Belarus next month to attend the large-scale military maneuvers and learn about the capabilities of the Belarusian military industry, Niyazov said. He did not rule out that the Turkmen government might buy the high-precision military equipment and arms in Belarus. In his turn, Lukashenko offered his assistance in modernizing Turkmenistan's army, which he described as "perhaps the strongest" in the Central Asia. (Interfax, May 17)

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

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