HUMAN RIGHTS & INDEPENDENT MEDIA
Irina Kozulina: Kozulin Withdrew Hunger Strike
Irina Kozulina, the wife of the ex-candidate for presidency, finally talked to her husband on the phone to find out whether he stooped the huger strike or not.
“I talk to Sasha [Aleksandr Kozulin] and now I can surely say – he stopped the hunger strike,” – Irina informed.
“We talk about his health and I have him some advice on how to withdraw hunger strike. He feels fine. He asked for some food he needs now,” Irina says.
She noted that, as she was informed before [by the authorities – Ed.], she was able to discuss with her husband only hunger strike.
She also added that Kozulin will have a meeting with his lawyer on Friday.
Trans. by Ed.
Source: AFN; December 12, 2006;
http://www.afn.by/news/news.asp?d=12&m=12&y=2006&newsid=81342#data
Troops Used to Break Up Opposition Meeting in Minsk
An opposition action in support of former Belarus ian presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin was forcibly broken up yesterday. Kozulin was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for “malicious hooliganism and organization of riot” and is in a correctional colony in Vitebsk . He has been on a hunger strike for 53 days to protest Alexander Lukashenko's presidency, which he considers illegal, and to have the “ Belarus ian issue” raised in the UN Security Council. Friends and relatives urged Kozulin, who is also former rector of Belarus ian State University , to abandon his hunger strike. They were joined this week by well-known writers, poets and artists but they too were unable to convince Kozulin to do so.
Yesterday's action was to support Kozulin and other convicts considered political prisoners. It began at 3:00 Moscow time on October Square in Minsk . Many would-be attendants were arrests on their way to the meeting, as police took people carrying flags, wearing emblems or speaking the Belarus ian language (instead of Russian) into custody as they approached the square. Deputy head of Kozulin's Gramada Belarus ian Social Democratic Party Alexey Korol and human rights activist Elena Tonkacheva were detained the day before the meeting for “confirmation of identity.”
In spite of a large number of police, special forces and law enforcement representatives in civilian clothes, about 50 people succeeded in gathering. They held portraits of Kozulin and chanted “Freedom!” and were surrounded by police and troops within minutes. Their signs were taken away from them and any effort to resist police efforts to remove them from the square was harshly met with. Several people, including human rights activist Valentin Stepanovich, were knocked to the ground, where they were beaten with clubs and kicked.
The police action lasted about 20 minutes and resulted in 32 of the protesters, by preliminary data, being taken into custody. Among them were leader of the United Civic Party Anatoly Lebedko, his deputy Valentin Polevikov and human rights activists Ales Belyatsky, Stepanovich and Ales Kalita. They were initially taken to a police station outside og Minsk where information was gathered, apparently with the intent of releasing them until their trials. Then the decision was made to take them back to the Central District police station in Minsk , from which they were taken to a holding facility for the night. They face trial for “active participation in an unauthorized action and insubordination to the legal demands of the police,” the standard charges in such circumstances.
Source: Kommersant; December 11, 2006; http://www.kommersant.com/p729118/ Belarus _opposition/
Independent Newspaper Urged to Leave Office
The editorial staff of Vitsiebski Kurjer, an independent regional newspaper, was refused to rent the office for the second time during the last three months.
The Elsan Vitsiebsk enterprise cancelled the contract with the newspaper before the term of the lease was over.
“The contract was cancelled due to the law violation at the moment of signing the contract between Elsan enterprise and Vitsiebski Kurjer Publishing House. The law violation is the fact that the Administration of Pershamaiski District of Vitebsk did not give permission for it”, -- the letter, signed by the head of the enterprise Dzmitrychenka, says. The editorial staff received this letter on December 6.
Vitsiebski Kurjer was asked to leave on December 8 till 12 p.m.
“It turned out that the sudden change in the director’s attitude was caused by the pressure of the local authorities. The edition had to rent an Elsan office after a year rent of an office on the territory of the Vitsiebsk taxi station. The head of the taxi station said he liked to read Vitsiebski Kurjer but he also had a boss who was subjected to the City Executive Committee and that is why they had to “ask” the editorial staff to leave, -- said Uladzimir Bazan, editor-in-chief of the Vitsiebski Kurjer in an interview with the BAJ Monitoring Service.
By the way, according to the regulations no permission of local authorities is necessary when a lease contract is signed.
Rev. by Ed.
Source: BAJ; December 7, 2006; http://www.baj.ru/en/news/?id=382&page=2
DOMESTIC
Milinkevich: Belarus Will Be Democratic Within Two Years
Belarus ian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich said Monday he was sure the totalitarian ex-Soviet republic would become democratic in two years, despite a campaign of intimidation by President Alexander Lukashenko.
Milinkevich said that even though Lukashenko has clamped down on dissidents and students, the demonstrations against his regime will not stop.
"There is a problem in today's Belarus : the authorities are doing everything they can to intimidate people, not only imprisoning them, but firing them from jobs, from school ... But I don't think fear prevails, young people demonstrating are not afraid of the KGB anymore," Milinkevich told European Union lawmakers a day before he was to receive the Sakharov Prize, the EU's top human rights award names after one of the best known former Soviet dissidents.
"I'm sure democracy will come to my country within two years," Milinkevich told the European Parliament in Belarus ian.
Milinkevich ran unsuccessfully against Lukashenko in elections in March which officials said Lukashenko won overwhelmingly but opposition activists and Western countries rejected as rigged. He has led unprecedented demonstrations.
He spent two weeks in jail following an April 26 protest that attracted about 10,000 people, and was recently briefly detained three times.
Milinkevich said fellow dissident Alexander Kozulin, imprisoned since this spring's protests, remains in critical condition after refusing to end his hunger strike, lasting more than 50 days.
"He has lost more than 40 kilos (88 pounds). I'm worried about him," Milinkevich said.
Lukashenko — who has ruled the nation since 1994 with an iron fist, earning him the nickname " Europe 's last dictator" — won another five-year term in the March vote. He is accused of jailing his critics and quashing Belarus ' independent media.
Milinkevich, a physicist and mathematician by profession, has been a unifying figure for an opposition that incorporates widely diverse forces ranging from pro-Westerners to Communists.
Source: The International Herald Tribune; December 11,2006 ; http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/11/europe/EU_GEN_EU_ Belarus .php
Catholics in Belarus Stop Hunger Strike after Getting OK for Church
Parishioners and their priest in Grodno , Belarus , stopped a hunger strike after local officials tentatively agreed to build a church following nearly 10 years of dispute over a building permit.
Officials said the final decision to allow the construction depends on a surveyor's report, said Father Antoni Gremza, spokesman for the Grodno Diocese.
Father Gremza told the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza that the parish had been asked to pay for the survey, although the parish presented its own survey earlier this year.
Bishop Aleksander Kaszkiewicz of Grodno received a signed "initial accord" Dec. 7 from the city's deputy mayor to allow church construction. The district's governor also signed a note supporting the building site.
Sixteen women launched the protest with Father Aleksander Szemiet of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Grodno Dec. 1 in a heated wooden shelter that has been used for Mass since the parish was registered in 1997.
The protesters, ages 34-79, were ethnic Belarus ians, Poles and Russians. Local newspapers reported that two elderly Catholics had been hospitalized early in the strike, but had vowed to continue the action after being discharged.
Father Szemiet told Gazeta Wyborcza the protesters "are ready to restart it at any moment if the authorities again try to withdraw their decision."
The Catholic Church makes up 14 percent of Belarus ' population of 10.3 million, and officials have complained of discrimination under President Aleksander Lukashenka, who was re-elected last March amid claims of ballot-rigging and intimidation.
Source: The Universe; December 12, 2006 ; http://www.totalcatholic.com/universe/index.php?news_id=1992&start=0&category_id=5&parent_id=0&arcyear=&arcmonth=
REGIONAL
Ukraine May Stop Electricity Export to Belarus
Ukrinterenerho state enterprise may stop the delivery of electricity to the Belarus ian Belenerho state enterprise in 2007, Rynok.biz reported.
"As far as I know, Ukraine may stop exports to Belarus from January 1 if Belenerho disagrees with electricity price rise," said Ukrainian News source at Ukrinterenerho.
According to the source, Ukrinterenerho contacted Belenerho in November with a warning letter.
The parties have not yet reached agreement on the volumes and price parameters of electricity exports in 2007.
Earlier the Economy Ministry recommended that Ukrinterenerho increase the cost of the electricity exported to Belarus .
Source: ForUm; December 13, 2006; http://en.for-ua.com/news/2006/12/13/124531.html
Belarus Says New Russian Election Laws Hamper Union State
Differences between Moscow and Minsk continued to grow Wednesday as the Belarus ian election authorities complained about Moscow changing its election laws and thus hindering legal harmonization within a union state project.
The two neighbors have been in talks since 1997 over a Union State with a common economic, customs and political space, but the negotiations have been complicated by a host of issues, including energy disputes and a tug-of-war between the leaderships.
"So long as we rewrite laws and alter the legal structure inside each country, the gap between us will continue to widen, and that is great danger," Lidiya Yermoshina, head of Belarus ' Election Commission, told a conference on the development of the Union State in Moscow .
Russia recently abolished the 20% threshold for voter turnout, canceled early voting and the "against all candidates" option on election ballots at all levels, but Yermoshina said her country was not ready to follow suit.
"Moreover, I know that some Russian politicians and public representatives are against such amendments," she said.
Yermoshina's counterpart in Russia , Alexander Veshnyakov, has indeed challenged some provisions in the bill, saying it is premature to abolish the turnout threshold.
"The prospective changes include some positive, indisputable proposals, but there are also objectionable provisions, which could be called premature," he said. "The decision to abolish the voter turnout threshold is among those I consider to be premature."
Yermoshina said Russia would have to rescind some of the amendments.
"I think Russia will have to backtrack on some new ideas in its election laws, because they will prove to be unworkable and will alienate people from the electoral process," Yermoshina said.
Belarus ' top election official also said another legal discrepancy involved the way parliamentarians came to power in the two former Soviet republics.
"Different methods of electing members of parliament place them in unequal positions from the very beginning," she said.
Parliamentarians in Belarus can be recalled because they are elected by individual voters, she said. In Russia , on the other hand, they are elected on party lists and are accountable to their party or faction rather than voters.
Both Belarus and Russia have drawn Western criticism for allegedly stifling democratic freedoms and pursuing authoritarian rule. The United States has even dubbed President Alexander Lukashenko " Europe 's last dictator."
Yermoshina called on Russia and Belarus to harmonize their legislation.
"When drafting a law, we must take into consideration our partner and make sure that it will fit into our common state and legal systems," she said.
Yermoshina said Belarus was ahead of Russia in terms of forming a common legal base for the Union State . "But we cannot rewrite our draft laws every time to suit Russia 's volatile election laws," she said.
As part of the unification plan, Russia and Belarus have also been seeking to introduce a common currency but the question of currency issuing centers remains the main stumbling block in the negotiations.
Energy supplies have been the most serious source of contention. Being the sole energy exporter to Belarus , Russia said Tuesday it would cancel privileges for its ally and impose crude export duties of $180.70 per metric ton for the country from 2007.
Belarus , in turn, controls an oil and gas pipeline grid leading from Russia to Europe across its territory - a coveted asset that Russia 's energy giant Gazprom is eager to lay its hands on.
Nor have Russia and Belarus agreed on a gas price for 2007. Belarus has been paying a discounted rate of $46.68 per 1,000 cubic meters but Gazprom is now seeking a price of $200 or a controlling stake in Beltransgaz, the pipeline company.
The Supreme State Council of the Union State will meet Friday to discuss the union's budget in Moscow .
Source: RIA Novosti; December 13, 2006; http://en.rian.ru/russia/20061213/56881096.html
Belarus as Model of Europe
United State became an original area for testing the Kremlin’s doctrine about the energy superstate.
The Kremlin tries to test its model of the energy superstate as the geopolitical tool by adopting more and more new steps of the economical pressure on Belarus . Though, de jure, we are parts of the Union State .
From Belarus we want the same things we want from the European Union countries: political loyalty and economical assets in exchange for regular gas supply at the most favorable for customers prices.
An introduction of the new duty on the Russian oil export to Belarus , starting on January 2007, has a logical economical explanation. Using the lack of this kind of fee the Russian oil enterprises have turned Belarus into the main oil offshore for re-export the product to the third countries.
Currently Belarus charges its own import due, which, according to the bilateral agreement of May 12, 1995 , should be divided between two countries’ budgets. In reality it mostly goes to the Belarus ian budget. This way of export oil to third countries, despite of the Belarus ian import duty, was still profitable for the Russian oil enterprises.
The Russian budget will receive the extra revenue of $3,5 mlrd after introducing the duty on the oil export to Belarus . Though it is a big amount of money, it is not worth it for Russia to aggravate economical relations with the major ally. Than why does Russia do that?
Paradoxically, but Belarus became an original area for testing the Kremlin energy superstate doctrine, also known as the “sovereign democracy” doctrine. For years Lukashenko have not decided to sell half of the Beltransgaz to Gazprom. Russia buys the Belarus ian products, such as tires, at the market prices. At the same time we still supply gas to Belarus at the almost internal price. And now we have a great opportunity to check how the energy whip works in practice. Gazprom already announced about raising the gas prices for Belarus in three times. After the raise the prices for Belarus would exceed the rates for Ukraine and would concede only the rates for Georgia, the current main enemy of Russia on the post-soviet territory. From Russian authorities point of view there is one common characteristic between friendly regime of Lukashenko and “enemy” regime of Saakashvili (the personal antagonism between presidents of Russian and Georgia is well known): both state heads, Belarus ian and Georgian, act undependably of Kremlin’s vision of Russian interests, or they even act contrary to these interests.
It is interesting that Kremlin might view almost any result of this economical sanctions policy as positive. Just recently the Russian Parliament gave to the President the individual right to adopt this kind of sanctions in case of relations aggravation with any foreign country. If Belarus agrees to sell control over its gas-transport system to Gazprom at an acceptable for Russia price, we will be able to say that the energy whip makes Lukashenko to compromise. If Belarus continues to persist, as the European Union countries persist in their unwillingness to sell their assets to the Russian oil enterprises, directly connected with Kremlin (and there is no oil enterprises not connected with Kremlin), we will be able to logically ground the exclusion of foreigners from the Russian oil and gas projects. If you do not want to share with us why should we share with you?
Surely, there is a certain risk of relation aggravation with the foreign partner. But, obviously, the Russian leadership views the scale and economical potential of Russia big enough to act like that at the international arena.
By using the tool of economical pressure on weaker countries of the former Soviet Union , Russia sounds out the boarders and possibilities to use this tool at the wider scale.
The significant redistribution of the oil and gas flows from the West to the East. Not without reason the EU fears of Moscow creating of the alternative gas OPEC with Algeria , the second main gas state. In addition, the privatization of the Russian biggest oil and gas enterprises by the Russian companies, or rather by pro-Kremlin structure behind these companies, is already happened.
Thus the sense of “tests on Lukashenko”, making by the Russian authorities, is much bigger that the bilateral relations with the country, president of which is considered as one of the most odious state leaders in the world. Thus, Kremlin is ready to easily sacrifice the not so obvious favorable attitude of “batko” [Lukashenko – Ed.] to Russia . Moreover, the worsening of the relations between two countries at the people’s levels is almost impossible. And the Belarus ian producers do not play any significant role at the Russian market.
Trans. by Ed.
Source: Gazeta.Ru; December 12, 2006; http://www.gazeta.ru/comments/2006/12/13_e_1149363.shtml
Russia, Belarus and Ukraine Regret Collapse of U.S.S.R.
Most people in Russia , Belarus and Ukraine regret the collapse of the Soviet Union 15 years ago, according to a survey by the Eurasian Monitor international research agency.
Gathering in the city of Minsk , the capital of Belarus , on December 8, 1991 , the leaders of Russia , Belarus and Ukraine declared that, given the profound crisis in which the Soviet Union found itself, the country cease to exist.
They then signed an agreement on the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which was later joined by other former republics of the Soviet Union .
The survey said that most of the respondents who regret the collapse of the Soviet Union are in Russia , amounting to 68%, while in Ukraine the percentage is 59%, and in Belarus 52%.
Between 44% and 47% of respondents in the surveyed countries said it would have been possible to avoid the collapse, but a majority said the union cannot be restored, with 68% of respondents in Russia , 71% in Ukraine and 76% in Belarus holding that view.
Most of the respondents in Russia said the unification of their country with Belarus , Ukraine or Kazakhstan is possible. Sixty-four percent of respondents in Belarus said they favor a union with Russia , 30% with Ukraine and 23% with the European Union.
Respondents in Ukraine were divided along almost the same lines as Belarus .
The survey was conducted throughout November in Russia by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center (1,600 surveyed respondents), in Belarus by the Novak social laboratory (1,107 surveyed respondents), and in Ukraine by the Research and Branding Group company (2,215 surveyed respondents).
Source: RIA Novosti; December 7, 2006; http://en.rian.ru/world/20061207/56589169.html
INTERNATIONAL
Milinkevich Refused to Accept Financial Part of EU Award
Aleksandr Milinkevich, leader of the Belarus ian democratic forces, refused to accept the financial support of the amount of 50,000 Euro, which is the financial part of the EU award he received on December 12.
Milinkevich stated that the European Parliament may directly send this money to support people, persecuted in Belarus .
“This award is not just for me. It is the award to all Belarus ians who came out on the streets during the presidential elections to fight for freedom and democracy in Belarus , despite the intimidation from the authorities. I have no right to accept event one cent from the award,” Milinkevich said while answering journalists’ questions in Strasburg.
Aleksandr Milinkevich received the European Parliament award on December 12 in Strasburg.
Rev. and Trans. by Ed.
Source: AFN; December 13, 2006; http://www.afn.by/news/news.asp?pg=2&d=13&m=12&y=2006&newsid=81369#data
Belarus Urges U.S. To Stop Focusing on Opposition Leader Kozulin
Belarus' Foreign Ministry called on the U.S. Wednesday to stop focusing its attention on the Belarus ian opposition and begin discussing serious world problems at the UN instead.
"We would once again urge the American side to stop chasing shadows and really start implementing its privileged status as a permanent UN Security Council member. It is a position charged with a special responsibility to maintain international peace and stability," Andrei Popov, the ministry's press secretary, said Wednesday.
At a meeting of the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany at UN headquarters in New York , the U.S. ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, proposed discussing Alexander Kozulin, leader of the Belarus ian Social Democratic Party, who was arrested during a protest March 25 against the result of the presidential election March 19.
Popov said Kozulin had ended his hunger strike by the time U.S. representatives tried to raise the issue at the UN.
"That is why, in our opinion, all this commotion raised by the Americans on this issue is nothing more than a propaganda ploy designed for the mass media," he said.
Russia refused to discuss the issue of the jailed Belarus ian opposition leader when the United States raised the subject during UN Security Council consultations, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.
Vitaly Churkin , Russia 's ambassador to the UN, said the issue was not on the agenda of the talks, which were expected to focus on Iran 's nuclear program, and left the room in protest.
Russia 's Foreign Ministry said the intention of a U.S. representative to discuss human rights abuse in Belarus was an attempt to turn the Security Council into a forum to discussing topics dictated by U.S. domestic political considerations.
"Moscow expressed the hope that the U.S. delegation will refrain from using such methods in its work at the UN Security Council in the future," the ministry said, adding that the issue is not within the Security Council's purview.
The March 19 election saw authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko re-elected to a third term.
Kozulin, 50, was convicted on charges of hooliganism, disorderly conduct and refusing to obey law enforcement officers. He was sent to a penal colony in the Vitebsk Region in the north of the republic and in mid-October went on a hunger strike.
The politician said his protest was aimed at attracting international attention to human rights violations in the ex-Soviet republic. During his 53-day hunger strike, which ended Tuesday, he lost over 26 kilograms (57 pounds).
Lukashenko was re-elected with an overwhelming 83% of the vote. Although he has widespread support in his homeland for maintaining relative stability in comparison with some other former Soviet republics, his human rights record has been fiercely criticized by international organizations.
However Russia , which is forming a Union State with Belarus , has urged other countries not to interfere in Belarus ' internal affairs.
The opposition and international monitors denounced the election as unfair, and opposition activists staged a five-day sit-in in Minsk 's central square.
Source: RIA Novosti; December 13, 2006; http://en.rian.ru/world/20061213/56890427.html
U.S. Raises Belarus, Russia Cancels Iran U.N. Meeting
Talks on Iran 's nuclear ambitions were abruptly called off on Tuesday because of Russian anger at the United States for raising a hunger strike by a jailed opposition politician in Belarus .
U.S. envoy William Brencick raised a hunger strike by a jailed opposition politician in Belarus during a closed-door U.N. Security Council session on the Ivory Coast and Lebanon .
He told colleagues they should keep an eye on the Belarus government's lack of freedom of expression, American and other diplomats at the session said.
In response, Russia 's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the issue had nothing to do with the council's business and showed anything can be raised in the 15-member body, the envoys quoted him as saying.
``It wasn't the best timing by the U.S. ,'' said Britain 's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.
Meanwhile, China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, who showed up for a separate Iran meeting among six key nations, told reporters he had complained the session on a resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran had been rescheduled three times.
``So I asked for some respect,'' Wang said. ``Then our colleague from Russia joined and said he would get instructions on the issue'' of Belarus . Then everyone left, Wang said.
Russian diplomats said Churkin felt the Iran talks would not be constructive after Belarus was raised in the Security Council. But diplomats expected the talks to be rescheduled in hopes of reaching agreement by Christmas.
Britain, France and Germany have revised a resolution backed by the United States that would impose sanctions on materials and technology that could be used in nuclear weapons, uranium reprocessing work and heavy-water reactors.
But Russia, which has veto power on the council, still objects to a travel ban and a freeze of assets of leading Iranian agencies, businesses and individual involved in the country's nuclear program.
On Belarus, the United States, on instructions from Washington, raised the plight of Alexander Kozulin, one of two opposition figures to run against President Alexander Lukashenko in his bid for re-election last March.
He was jailed for 5-1/2 years for organizing mass rallies after official results gave the president a landslide victory. Kozulin ended a 53-day hunger strike on Tuesday.
``This highlights the situation in Belarus , concerning the lack of democracy in the heart of Europe ,'' a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
``We have never shied away from raising issues of fundamental freedom and political expression.''
Source: Evelyn Leopold, Reuter; December 12, 2006 ; http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-12-13T035124Z_01_N12381868_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAN-BELARUS-UN-USA-RUSSIA.xml&src=rss
EU Awards Belarus Opposition Leader Prestigious Human Rights Prize
Belarus opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich on Tuesday was awarded a prestigious European prize for freedom of thought, underlining growing European Union toughness on the country which it considers Europe 's last dictatorship.
European Parliament President Josep Borrell awarded Milinkevich the prize, endowed with 50,000 euros, during a plenary session in Strasbourg .
The Sakharov prize is given every year by the European Parliament to people who have stood up for human rights or freedom. Previous recipients include Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan.
The award comes after EU governments this week widened travel bans on top Belarus ian officials including President Alexander Lukashenko.
Milinkevich ran against Lukashenko in the March 2006 presidential elections, which the EU and the US condemned as seriously flawed. The opposition leader was held in a Minsk jail for two weeks after the elections.
In February, Milinkevich had asked EU lawmakers for their support, but Belarus authorities denied a delegation of MEP election observers entry to the country.
The parliament's annual human rights prize is intended to honour exceptional individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression.
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, after whom the prize is named, was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist who advocated civil liberties and reforms in the Soviet Union .
In 1970, he founded a committee to defend human rights and victims of political trials and in 1975 won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Earlier this year, the EU added four more Belarus ian officials to a list of 31 - including Lukashenko - banned from entering the bloc because of their involvement in a crackdown on democracy.
Source: Playfuls.Com; December 12, 2006;
http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_5152-EU-Awards- Belarus -Opposition-Leader-Prestigious-Human-Rights-Prize.html
U.S. Congress Calls For Tighter Belarus Sanctions
Both houses of the U.S. Congress have backed legislation calling for tighter sanctions on Belarus and for more money to be provided to Belarus ian independent media and pro-democracy groups.
The Belarus Democracy Reauthorization Act of 2006 calls on the president to prohibit U.S. loans and most exports to Belarus as an addition to travel restrictions already in place against senior Belarus ian officials.
The bill also includes a statement demanding the release of political prisoners in Belarus .
The bill must still be signed into law by President George W. Bush. // AP
Source: RFL/RE; December 10, 2006;
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/12/62AC2F7C-AD29-414B-95DA-190F68673B58.html
UN Expert Calls for Health Access for Kazulin
An independent United Nations human rights expert today called on the Government of Belarus to assure access to proper health care for a jailed opposition political leader who has been on hunger strike for the past 49 days.
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus , Adrian Severin, urged the Government to grant family members, legal representatives and independent monitors free access to Alexander Kazulin, leader of the Belarus ian Socialist Democratic party Narodnaya Hramada and former presidential candidate, who was sentenced to five-and-a-half years imprisonment in July.
“On 20 October, Mr. Kazulin started a hunger strike to protest against the lawlessness in Belarus and to draw the attention of the [UN] Security Council to the situation in Belarus ,” Mr. Severin said in a statement, voicing “his deepest concern.”
In a letter to his family Mr. Kazulin indicated that a doctor’s exam last month confirmed that he had lost 36 kilos, the statement noted.
Special Rapporteurs are unpaid, independent experts who report to the UN Human Rights Council.
Source: UN News Center ; December 8 2006;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20897&Cr=belarus&Cr1=health
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