INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE

Edited by Victor Cole

Vol. 5, No. 22

May 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS-

- KGB Chief, Foreign Minister Criticize OSCE Policy In Belarus

- Opposition Calls For 4th Technical Conference On Belarus

- Court Refuses To Consider Lawsuit Filed By Protest Organizers

- Prominent TV Producer Sent To Mental Institution

- Amnesty International: No Progress In Human Rights Record In Belarus

- Lukashenko Apprehensive After Ukraine Announced Intention To Join NATO

- Authorities Oppose Abolition Of Capital Punishment

- Nomenclature, Opposition Are Lukashenko's Main Enemies

- Families Of Stampede Victims Protest Closing Of Investigation

- Belarus, China Hold Military Cooperation Talks

KGB CHIEF, FOREIGN MINISTER CRITICIZE OSCE POLICY IN BELARUS

On May 24, Leonid Yerin, chief of the Belarusian State Security Council (KGB), once again accused the OSCE AMG in Belarus of taking actions beyond its mandate and interfering in the country's internal affairs. "There is no doubt that the OSCE Group is meddling in Belarus's internal affairs," Yerin told journalists after taking part in a closed session of the House of Representatives, lower chamber of the Belarusian National Assembly. According to Yerin, Amb. Hans-Georg Wieck, the former head of the OSCE mission in Minsk, who left Belarus last December after being repeatedly accused of teaming up with the opposition to subvert the existing state order, "pursued a strategy of cooperating with the opposition while ignoring the country's authorities." Amb. Wieck planted a time bomb under the foundation of relations between Belarus and Western countries, Yerin said. He stressed that the OSCE AMG alone bears the blame for the current poor state of relations between the mission and the Belarusian authorities.

The KGB chief claimed that U.S. diplomats have put themselves above Belarusian law and international norms, actively helping the mission to boost anti-president orientated political structures. "From the very beginning, the Group has been under close supervision and the very strong influence of the U.S.," Yerin continued, adding that "the Americans considered it a tool to change Belarus's foreign policy priorities and to encourage the country to conduct domestic reforms in the interests of the West and the U.S." "The U.S. diplomats repeatedly told Wieck that there was a need to collect information on human rights violations by the Belarusian authorities to cover the political and preconceived campaign aimed at justifying the continuing international isolation of the country," Yerin explained.

The KGB head also told parliamentarians that in early 2001, the State Security Committee and the Foreign Ministry informed the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe about Wieck's and his group illegal activities in Belarus. "The collected information was sufficient to charge Wieck with abuse of office, but the OSCE PA and COE failed to take the appropriate measures," Yerin said. He repeated Lukashenko's old adage that the AMG has fulfilled its mission in Belarus. "We should discuss whether it should stay or go," the official added.

"The Belarusian special services believe that the only way out of this situation could be the strict implementation of the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign Belarus. Any attempts to exert pressure on the Belarusian leadership hold no promise and will benefit no one," Yerin concluded.

The same day, apparently trying to sweeten the bitter pill, Mikhail Khvostov, Belarusian Foreign Minister, urged his boss and the European democratic institutions not to waste their time on useless confrontation and to discuss the issue at a forthcoming session of the OSCE Permanent Council. "The Belarusian government is seeking cooperation with the OSCE and the Council of Europe," the foreign minister said, apparently trying to reassure himself.

Khvostov said that the OSCE AMG's numerous run-ins with the Belarusian leadership, which vehemently resisted the mission's attempts to champion civil rights, are result of the mission's stubborn refusal to revise its mandate. (The original mandate as approved by the Permanent Council of the OSCE was to advise on the development of democratic institutions of Belarus and to monitor the compliance of the country with its OSCE commitments-Ed.). The foreign minister disagreed with Uta Zapf (MP, Germany), chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly ad hoc Working Group on Belarus Group, who, during a recent visit to Belarus, said that relations between Belarus and the OSCE reached a deadlock. "By making these remarks, Zapf only confirmed that she is incapable of changing anything in this situation," Khvostov snapped.

Commenting on a recent statement made by Amb. Steven Pifer, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, that the U.S.-Belarusian relations are poor (see Belarus Update Vol. 5, No. 21), the Foreign Minister said that he knows the U.S. well and believes that the position of the U.S. State Department towards Belarus "does not reflect the feelings of the American people." "If U.S. citizens were asked whether they would like to develop relations with Belarus and the Belarusian people, the State Department would lose," Khvostov said. "A policy aimed at isolating the country does not justify itself," the minister continued. "If the U.S. Government decides to adhere to a policy of 'selective engagement' in its interaction with the Belarusian government, we will chose to cooperate 'selectively' on terrorism matters," the Lukashenko official warned. "I cannot find an answer to the question why our president, under U.S. pressure, was not invited to the Warsaw conference dealing with this problem," the Belarusian foreign minister added.

Khvostov said that the U.S. should not make the presence of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus the key element of its policy regarding Belarus. He urged the Bush administration to "stop over-politicizing things" and to "restore the relations the two countries used to have." "But it is impossible for Belarus to build relations with the U.S. when the country's parliament and the results of parliamentary elections are not recognized," the minister concluded.

On May 30, Amb. Wieck, former head of the OSCE AMG in Belarus told Radio Racyja that all attempts of the OSCE leadership to involve Russia in resolving the conflict between the organization's mission in Minsk and the Belarusian authorities had not yielded any results. Amb. Wieck reiterated that the OSCE leadership will consider the possibilities of negotiating the mission's mandate with the Belarusian authorities only after the OSCE designated German diplomat Eberhard Heyken and other OSCE representatives will be granted the entry visa. "Despite all obstacles, the OSCE will continue to support the development of civil society and the democratic opposition in the country," said Amb. Wieck.

In the most recent developments, the Belarusian authorities have failed to renew the accreditation of Andrew Carpenter, the interim chief of the OSCE mission in Minsk, after his visa and diplomatic license expired on June 1. Another officer, Meaghan Fitzgerald, a U.S. citizen, responsible for human rights, was recalled by OSCE to Vienna for consultations; her visa expires next month. With all the executive staff now removed under Belarusian pressure, only an administrative officer, a Moldovan national, remains in what is left of the mission. (Interfax/ Belapan/ Radio Racyja/ RFE/RL, May 24-31)

OPPOSITION CALLS FOR 4th TECHNICAL CONFERENCE ON BELARUS

The Consultative Council of the Belarusian Opposition Political Parties, which includes the leaders of the opposition as well as human rights groups, urged the international democratic community to hold a Forth Technical Conference to discuss the current political situation in Belarus. [The Technical Conference is the group of European institutions monitoring Belarus including the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the European Union--Ed.]. Anatoly Lebedko, leader of the opposition United Civic Party, believes there is a danger that the Belarusian authorities will pursue all available remedies to force the international organizations to adopt a conciliatory policy regarding Belarus. The Council hopes that the conference will help the domestic opposition and the democratic international community to maintain a firm position toward the regime. (Charter 97, May 28)

COURT REFUSES TO CONSIDER LAWSUIT FILED BY PROTEST ORGANIZERS

On May 30, the Minsk City Court upheld the decision of the Moskovsky District Court of Minsk, denying an appeal in a lawsuit filed against the Minsk City Executive Committee by the organizers of the April 19's anti-Lukashenko march "We Can't Live Like This!" which resulted in mass arrests.

Yuri Khashchevatsky, famous Belarusian filmmaker; Valery Shchukin, a correspondent for Narodnaya Volya, an independent newspaper, and deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet; Dmitry Bondarenko, coordinator of Charter 97; journalist Nikolai Khalezin, and Timofei Dranchuk, an activist of Zubr, a youth movement, accuse the authorities of failing to clearly designate a route that marchers were allowed to follow on their way from Yakub Kolas Square to Bangalore Square, the ultimate gathering place. After not receiving any directions from the authorities, the march organizers assumed that they are permitted to lead the demonstrators along the route declared in the application filed with the Minsk City Executive Committee, i.e. from Yakub Kolas to Oktyabrskaya Square along Skaryna Avenue. As a result, when the crowd heading for Bangalore Square, arrived at the intersection of Skaryna Avenue and Kozlova Street, police blocked it and beat those in the front lines, including the organizers. About a hundred protesters and journalists were arrested and dragged into the police buses; a number later spent some days in prison under administrative arrest. About 40 people were injured in the clashes, seven were hospitalized. The action organizers intend to appeal the denial to the Belarusian Supreme Court.(Charter 97, May 31)

PROMINENT TV PRODUCER SENT TO MENTAL INSTITUTION

On May 29, Judge Zaitseva of the Pervomaisky District Court of Minsk postponed the hearing of a criminal case filed against Ruslan Zgolich, a producer of the Belarusian State Television and Radio Company (BTR), until he undergoes another "medical examination" at Navinki, the national hospital for mentally ill patients. The producer, who is charged with a large-scale theft for allegedly stealing seven out of eight tapes of his own unfinished movie titled "Guests," costing about $30,000, considers himself mentally healthy and pleads not guilty. He believes that he is being prosecuted for his outspoken criticism of the quality of programs on the Belarusian State Television, which he says is used by Lukashenko and his entourage to brainwash their compatriots.

In April 2002, Andrei Bitov, Andrei Voznesensky, Bella Akhmadulina, Fazil Iskanderov, Arkady Vaksberg, and other prominent members of the Russian PEN Center called the authorities' decision to place the talented Belarusian filmmaker in a mental asylum "an attempt to take revenge on him for his active civic position." The judge refused to review the PEN Center's statement.

Zgolich was arrested on December 5, 2001, and severely beaten by police in Minsk suffering numerous bruises and a head injury. In January 2002, he was charged with a criminal offence of large-scale theft which is punishable by up to 15 years in jail and forcefully taken in handcuffs. (Svaboda, May 29)

AI: NO PROGRESS IN HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD IN BELARUS

On May 29, Amnesty International released its Annual Report 2002, which says that no progress was made in determining who was responsible for the abduction and apparent killing in 1999 of several prominent political opponents of Alexander Lukashenko. At least two long-term prisoners of conscience were held and hundreds of people were detained for their peaceful opposition activities [Prof. Yury Bandazhevsky and Andrei Klimov who since then has been released. -Ed.]. There were numerous continuing allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment, particularly affecting political opponents of the government and peaceful demonstrators. The authorities failed to promptly and impartially investigate such allegations and prosecute alleged perpetrators. Detainees often alleged that police officers either used unnecessary force to detain them or ill-treated them.

There were numerous reports that people were detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Throughout 2001 a significant number of activists of the newly emerged youth democratic and human rights organization, Zubr, served periods of imprisonment after being detained on account of their peaceful protest activities. Protesters detained during peaceful demonstrations frequently complained about the conditions in which they were held. Conditions in places of detention and prisons fell well below international standards and often amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

Human rights defenders faced considerable obstacles in the course of their work, which appeared to be part of a deliberate campaign by the Belarusian authorities to frustrate and undermine their activities.

Executions of people sentenced to death continued to be carried out in secret and without prior notification to the relatives. Owing to the veil of secrecy surrounding information about the death penalty, which continued to be classed as a state secret, no reliable figure could be obtained regarding the number of executions. The full report can be found at: http://www.amnesty.org

- BROTHER SLAVS-

LUKASHENKO UNEASY ABOUT UKRAINE'S INTENTION TO JOIN NATO

On May 29, Alexander Lukashenko told his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, that he fears the new Russian-NATO relationship will alter ties among former Soviet republics, but nonetheless supported Ukraine's intention to join NATO. The Belarusian leader said that with the new Russia-NATO agreement, he is afraid that another system of relationships will be established in the post-Soviet region." "I absolutely support [Kuchma] that it's necessary to take various steps to promote stabilization in this region and strengthen peace and security," Lukashenko said at a meeting between the two leaders in Chernigov, northern Ukraine.

As to how Belarus will respond to the altered security landscape if it finds itself surrounded by NATO partners, Lukashenko said: "Live and learn." He also hinted at an eventual thawing of his own country's future relations with NATO, but he stopped well short of endorsing any step toward membership, saying that closer cooperation depends on the depth of NATO's assistance with problems caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

The two presidents met the day after Ukraine announced plans to enter NATO and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a groundbreaking limited partnership agreement with NATO officials at a summit near Rome. Two weeks ago in Moscow at a meeting with leaders of the six-nation Collective Security Treaty - of which Ukraine isn't a signatory - Lukashenko urged the ex-Soviet members to create "a powerful military-political organization" comparable to NATO. (Interfax, May 30)

- AT HOME IN BELARUS-

AUTHORITIES OPPOSE ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

On May 28, Vladimir Naumov, Belarusian Interior Minister, spoke against the abolition of the capital punishment in this country. "At this stage of our society's development, we should retain capital punishment as an exceptional measure," Naumov said after visiting a high-security facility in Glubokoe, Vitebsk Region. Naumov asserted that not only the Belarusian public but convicts themselves consider its premature to ban the death penalty in Belarus. The minister said that last year seven offenders were sentenced to death and forty received life sentences. "These numbers prove that this kind of punishment is rare. The crimes committed by those who received the death sentence were so abominable that people would not have understood us had we not punished the criminals by death," Naumov said.

On May 30, during the hearings on death penalty held by the Belarusian National Assembly, Mikhail Snegir, Deputy Prosecutor General of Belarus, said there is no worldwide evidence that the liberalization of criminal legislation will result in decline of committed crimes. Snegir reported that in the first four months of this year, there were more than 41,000 crimes committed in Belarus, including 378 murders. He said that the Prosecutor's Office regards capital punishment as the lesser evil than life imprisonment and therefore, it should not be abolished.

Minister of Justice Viktor Golovanov said he does not believe that the use of death penalty may stop a potential offender from violating the law. But he was quick to add that it was not a good idea to ban the capital punishment now, when "the general public finds sufficient reasons to use it." [Public opinion polls show that 85.5 per cent of Belarusians believe that capital punishment should be preserved.-Ed.].

Mikhail Khvostov, Belarusian Foreign Minister, supported the idea of the abolition of capital punishment "in general," but said it is too early to ban it now "because this measure has not been prepared properly." He also reminded the parliamentarians that if the country's authorities want to regain their special guest status in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) and wish to join the Council of Europe, they "should try to find approaches to the solution without categorically rejecting the terms set before them." (Belapan, May 28-31)

NOMENCLATURE, OPPOSITION ARE LUKASHENKO'S MAIN ENEMIES

"Establishing control over the entrenched nomenclature and driving the opposition out of the political process are the two strategic goals of the Lukashenko regime," the Economist recently commented. Lukashenko will continue to stage unmotivated staff rotations in order to pull the rug under the feet of the supreme bureaucracy, so it will never be able to build a network of relations based on personal allegiance, the article noted. Periodic arrests of state bosses are yet another confirmation of the fact. The experts said that major threat to Lukashenko emanates from the nomenclature and the democratic opposition, given that Russia takes their side. When Lukashenko's opponents will make him fight back for power and survival in a way that could contradict Russia's interests, then the Russian leadership may cease financing Lukashenko and support new leaders. The full text of the article is available at: http://www.charter97.org

FAMILIES OF STAMPEDE VICTIMS PROTEST CLOSING OF INVESTIGATION

The families of fifty-three people who died in a stampede in a Minsk underground passage in 1999 denounced late on May 31, 2002, a court decision to close the criminal case launched after the incident. The victims' relatives gathered to open a small memorial to those who were crushed or suffocated as a 2,500-strong crowd rushed to the passageway seeking refuge from a sudden rain storm that broke out as they were leaving an open-air rock concert. "The investigation was first dragged out and then they closed it as too much time had passed since then. But we think this is a disgrace," said Mikhail Inkov, who lost his daughter in the fatal accident. The victims' families blame either the concert's organizers or the police officials who failed to prevent the tragedy. "We intend to appeal to the Supreme Court, and to international organizations. People will understand that things like these cannot be put aside," said Natalya Novakovskaya, the mother of a girl who was killed and leader of the victims' relatives group. "It is not that it will be easier for us if court hearings continued. But if we leave it like this, we will betray our children," she added. (Belapan/ AFP, May 31)

- INTERNATIONAL NEWS-

BELARUS, CHINA HOLD MILITARY COOPERATION TALKS

General Fu Quanyou, chief of the general staff of China's People Liberation Army, held military cooperation talks with Alexander Lukashenko on May 28, the presidential press service reported. A statement said Lukashenko underlined that the partnership had "already reached a high level in the field of military cooperation, and should develop further." In 1995 the two allies established a commission to oversee military cooperation, which meets annually. Belarus is currently studying the modernization of its fleet of Russian-made Su-27 planes as well as inviting Chinese students to its military academies. General Fu also held talks with the Belarus defense minister and army chief-of-staff. No further details on the talks were available. (Belapan, May 29)

- UPCOMING EVENTS

July 6-11, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Berlin, Germany.

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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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