Monthly Review of Human Rights violations in Belarus - January

The universal financial crisis did not pass Belarus. The National Bank set the new currency exchange rate, as a result of which the Belarusian ruble was at once devalued by 20%.

The activists of the entrepreneurs' movement are dissatisfied with the new conditions for their work and are going to organize new actions of protest. On 9 January Viktar Harbachou, the leader of the civil campaign For Free Development of Business, stated that the entrepreneurs of Belarus called on the people to hold the March of Offended and Unheard on 25 March.

Among the most celebrated cases of human rights violations in January was the forced detention and draft into the army of the youth activists Zmitser Khvedaruk, Ivan Shyla and Franak Viachorka. In its public statement the Human Rights Center Viasna qualified it as the revival of the practice when drafting into the army is used as a means of neutralization of civil and political activists. The unregistered youth organization Young Front held actions of protest against these repressive measures. In its public address to the Ministry of Defense the organization demanded that politically motivated persecution of youth be stopped and the draft was conducted in conformity with the norms of the Belarusian legislation.

In January in Belarus at various state organs there was established a number of working groups and advisory councils to which representatives of public circles are actively invited. On 31 January 2008 the head of the government Siarhei Sidorski signed the order for the establishment of an inter-agency working group for creation of a plan for development of the country's marketing. The working group consists of 14 people, two of whom do not represent any state agencies: the deputy head of the United Civil Party Yaraslau Ramanchuk and the director of the laboratory for axiometric research Novak, head of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies Andrei Vardamatski.

A month after the establishment of the working group Yaraslau Ramanchuk decided to leave it. 'My work in this institution once again showed to me that the main problem of the Belarusian administrative economy is the actual absence of government. Instead, there are chaos, inertia and constant squabble. Even if the people have the wish to reach an agreement, they cannot do it. That's why there is no use speaking about any changes in the country unless the principles of government are change,' commented Mr. Ramanchuk.

On 16 January the head of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Zhana Litvina, the chief editor of the Narodnaya Volia newspaper and the chief editor of Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belorussii Alena Mironava received the official proposal to join the public coordinative board in the sphere of mass information, established by the Soviet of Ministers.

On 26 January it became known that a public-consultative council is established at the presidential administration. According to the first vice-head of the presidential administration Natallia Piatkevich, 'the council is established for discussion of the daily issues of civil and political development of the Belarusian society'. The authorities intend to invite some representatives of public circles to this organ.


1. Right to peaceful association

On 10 January the authorities disrupted An assembly of the parents whose children study in Poland on Kalinouski educational program (organized for the people who were expelled from Belarusian high schools because of their political activities) at St. Symon and Alena Church in Minsk. More than 60 people came to the assembly. Some of them arrived from other towns and cities of Belarus. Singer Zmitser Vaitsiushkevich and poet Henadz Buraukin also intended to take part in the event. However, before the beginning of the assembly a representative of Minsk city executive committee (according to some other information - from the State Committee on Religions) Rumiantsava called to the church and prohibited the event without any explanations.

Minsk city executive committee did not grant the petition of residents of Kurasoushchyna suburb in Minsk for holding an anti-alcoholic rally on 10 January. The officials stated that the place the action organizers had chosen for the action did not meet the appropriate requirements and the procession on the chosen route would hinder the traffic. An initiator of the action Leanid Skarabahaty said that the organizers of the event were not going to give up and would look for legal ways for holding of actions against alcoholization of the population.

At the end of January the IBB education center refused to provide premises for holding of the constituent assembly of the Belarusian Christian Party that was scheduled for 28 February. The IBB representatives informed the applicants that the application was correct and the hall of the education's center would be free on 28 February, but the founders of the center decided not to present it for the event. Bear in mind that the IBB was founded by Minsk city executive committee and German partners.

Uladzimir Katsora, the head of the organizing committee for the establishment of the For Freedom movement in Homel oblast, received a letter frog Geneva informing that the UN Human Rights Committee accepted his complaint for consideration. The complaint concerns the electoral meeting with Alexander Milinkevich, organized by Mr. Katsora in February 2008. Uladzimir produced and distributed leaflets with invitations to the meeting. The authorities qualified it as a violation of the law On mass events, as a result of which the activist was sentenced to seven days of arrest. Uladzimir Katsora went through all court instances in Belarus trying to get the justice restored, but all was in vain. Then he had to apply to the UN. By the way, during the last two years U.Katsora has been arrested five times because of his political activities. All in all, he spent 40 days in jail, 17 of them - for alleged violations of the Law On mass events.


2. Activities of secret services and persecution of public and political activists

On 19 January two KGB officers tried to recruit a first year student of the Belarusian State Academy of Radio-electronics Pavel Liashkovich, who studies at the faculty of informational technologies. At the dean's office two people in mufti asked the student about his trips to Poland and the Ukraine. They also asked whether he was a member of any oppositional organizations. Then they offered him to write an application for cooperation with the KGB and promised financial support. Pavel Liashkovich had to sign the papers. They also ordered him to write an application for joining the Young Front. They asked him not to give publicity to the content of the 'discussion'. Such cases take place all over the country. Among others, a student of Hrodna State Agrarian University Aleh Pronski and a student of Salihorsk State Economical Technical College Illia Kavalei were 'invited' for 'prophylactic talks'.

Illia Kavalei applied to Salihorsk executive committee for authorization of a picket against the economical defenselessness of the population from the economical policy of the authorities. Two days after it the administration of the educational establishment held a 'prophylactic talk' with the activist, at which he was warned about his possible expulsion from the college. They also threatened that some drugs could be 'occasionally' found in his pocket, or something else could happen to him.

KGB also pressurizes the members of the initiative group against the construction of the nuclear power station. A man in civvies came to Ivan Zhyletski from Astravets and asked why he was against the nuclear power plant. Most members of the initiative group are pensioners.


3. Right to association

The organizing committee of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party started holding assemblies for registration of the party. More than 100 residents of Vitsebsk, Polatsk, Chashniki and Haradok have already agreed to act as the founders of the party. BHD needs to gather more than 1000 founders. According to the BHD press-service the KGB officers phone to potential founders of the party and threaten them with troubles for participation in registration of the party.

On 26 January the documents for registration of the Nasha Viasna NGO were passed to the Ministry of Justice. The organization has been founded by human rights activists, journalists and public activists from all parts of Belarus, many of whom used to be members of the Human Rights Center Viasna, liquidated by the Supreme Court in 2003 on the order of the Ministry of Justice. In 2007 the human rights activists tried to legalize their activities, but the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court refused to restore the legal status to HRC Viasna despite the ruling of the UN Human Rights Committee, in which the liquidation of the Center is qualified as a violation of the right to association by the Belarusian authorities, and the Belarusian authorities were proposed to correct the situation.


4. Freedom of expression and the right to disseminate information

The Chamber of Representatives once again refused to issue accreditation to Maryna Koktysh, a journalist of a legally registered newspaper Narodnaya Volia. On 5 January the editorial office received the appropriate letter from the vice-head of the secretariat of the Chamber of Representatives Skarynin, dated 31 December. There it was stated that the application for accreditation was passed to the 'appropriate services', who decided to refuse the journalist in access to 'the complex of buildings in Savetskaya Street, 11' (the address of the House of the Parliament).

On 15 January the Economic Court of Minsk oblast sentenced the newspaper Borisovskiye Novosti to a fined of 48 million rubles (more than $17 000). As stated by the founder of Bukas Media Center firm and the chief editor of the newspaper Anatol Bukas, this measure puts his company in the danger of bankruptcy, as a result of which 22 people will lose their jobs. The matter is that Bukas Media Center rented a stall at the city market on written agreement with the market administration. According to Ruling #1221 of the Soviet of Ministers, the rent of a stall does not need to be introduced in the license. The company made 48 million Belarusian rubles selling newspapers there. The tax inspection took the opinion that Bukas Media Center had a market object, not a stall at the market, and sentenced it to a fine equal to the year's income. Besides, the Belarusian House of Press annulled the agreement for printing of the newspaper that was signed on 8 January. Bear in mind that the newspaper Borisovskiye Novosti hasn't had the opportunity to be printed in the printing house of Barysau since 1996. During the recent years the edition was printed in Maladzechna, Orsha and in two printing houses in Minsk. Only one issue was published in the Belarusian House of Press.

The ideological department of Minsk city executive committee prohibited the advertisement of a legally registered newspaper Nasha Niva in the subway. The editorial board of the newspaper addressed the advertisement service of the subway for advertisement of the newspaper as soon as Nasha Niva was returned to the state newsstands and the subscription catalog. The advertisement service stated they were not against it, but needed agreement the ideological department of Minsk city executive committee. Almost a month later Eduard Tamilchyk, the head of the mass events department, stated that there was no spaces for advertisement of Nasha Niva in January and advised the applicants to apply again in February. However, the advertisement service disproved the information about the absence of free space.


5. Detentions of and fines to civil and political activists

On 12 January the officers of Salihorsk district police department detained an activist of the independent trade union of radio-electronic industry Mikalai Pakhabau, who was returning to Salihorsk from Minsk. The policemen stopped his car and searched it. In the trunk they found leaflets with an address of the adherents of the trade union to Salihorsk administration concerning the necessity of building a new polyclinic. They also found CDs and the informational bulletin Za Voliu. The activist was guarded to the district police department, where he had a talk with an investigator.

On 13 January the judge of Tsentralny district court Tatsiana Pauliuchuk found the youth activist Marta Maiseyenka guilty under article 17.1 (petty hooliganism) and fined her 175 000 rubles (about $70). The matter is that the girl hanged the national white-red-white flag on the New Year tree in the center of Minsk. The police detained the girl and accused her of dirty swearing. Marta was kept in Tsentralny district police department during the night after the detention.


6. Politically motivated criminal cases

On 13 January Minsk city court considered Alexander Barazenka's cassation complaint against the verdict that had been issued to him by Tsentralny district court of Minsk on 9 December 2008 for participation in a peaceful action of protest (judge Natallia Vaitsiakhovich sentenced him to a year of personal restraint without direction to an open penitentiary institution). Predictably enough, Minsk city court left the verdict in force.

The military enlistment office declared an activist of the Young Front Siarzhuk Huminski wanted for evasion from army service and is going to pass the materials against him to the prosecutor's office for bringing a criminal case. Bear in mind that as a result of political persecution Mr. Huminski had to go abroad for continuing his studies. Last year the military enlistment office already tried to make the prosecutor's office bring a criminal case, but the latter refused to do it.

Adopted children, three-year-old boy and girl, were taken back from the mother of the Young Front activist Artsiom Dubski. The woman adopted them two years ago and every year had to prolong the contract for their upbringing. This year the authorities refused to prolong the contract, as her son was a 'political criminal' and participated in 'anti-state activities'. The children were returned to the orphanage. Bear in mind that Artsiom Dubski was one of the accused in the 'process of 14' for participation in the action of entrepreneurs of 10 January 2008 and was sentenced to two years of personal restraint without direction to the open penitentiary institution. In October a criminal case under Article 415 ('evasion from serving the punishment') was brought against Artsiom. As a result he asked for political asylum in the Ukraine, where he is living now.


7. Freedom of conscience

On 13 January the Supreme Economic Court rejected the lawsuit of the Novaye Zhyttsio Church against Minsk city executive committee. According to the court verdict, the believers will have to leave the building where they used to serve masses. Bear in mind that in 2002 the church bought a former cow-shed and converted it into a temple at its own expense. In 2005 the authorities banned serving of any masses there. At first the authorities ordered the Protestants to leave the building on 9 October 2006. Instead, the latter ones went on a hunger-strike of protest, as a result the authorities refused from their expulsion from the building for some time.


8. Prisoners' rights

The US continues insisting on the release of the American lawyer Emanuel Zeltser from prison because of the grave state of his health. Patton Boggs law firm has filed an urgent complaint with a UN Special Rapporteur on Torture demanding to investigate torturing of Emanuel Zeltser.

As the press service of the firm reports, the complaint alleges that having detained Zeltser on 12 March 2008, Belarus violated its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Zeltser 'has faced physical beatings, inhumane and unsanitary treatment... The Belarusian authorities have continuously withheld physician-prescribed medications. An independent American doctor, who was allowed to examine E.Zeltser at prison #15 in Mahiliou on 6 January, thinks that the prisoner can hardly survive till the end of his prison term without the necessary medicines. The lawyers urged the UN Special Rapporteur to 'make the Belarusian authorities understand that such actions are inadmissible and must be banned'.