Journalists, Political Prisoners and Rights Activists under Pressure – Digest of Belarusian Politics
Human rights activist Aleh Volchak
Belarusian authorities failed to release political prisoners despite some submitting pardon petitions to Lukashenka. In the past, Alexander Lukashenka has hinted that as soon as he received a pardon request from them they would be released. The authorities also intensified the propaganda campaign against independent journalists and protestants, expelled several students from a Minsk-based university and continued to create obstacles for human rights organisations and activists.
Three European Belarus Activists Expelled. Activists of the European Belarus civic campaign Alexander Soldatenko, Alexander Velitchenko and Nikita Kovalenko have been expelled from the Minsk State Linguistic University. Earlier, all three youngsters were arrested and sentenced to between 7 and 15 days imprisonment for participating in the October 2011 solidarity actions with political prisoners.
Detention of Protestants. Late in the evening of 8 February, special operations forces detained 32 people in the Ian the Baptist Protestant church and then released them from the Maskouski District Police Department of Minsk. Among them there were three persons under the age of 18.
Belarusian Association of Journalists Condemns TV Report as False. The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) has condemned as false a report aired by the state TV channel Belarus One on 5 February. The report accused the organization of receiving funding from the British embassy in Minsk and failing to register the money with the presidential administration's property management department in a violation of its rules.
Court Sentences Nasha Niva to Pay Damages to Former ONT TV Journalist. On 10 February the Oktyabrskiy district court of Minsk ordered the Nasha Niva newspaper to pay BYR 5m in reputation damages to former journalist of the state-run ONT TV channel Denis Sukhovarov. The court, which rejected similar claims against Belapan, found that Nasha Niva violated the law when it called Sukhovarov a ‘"fraud artist" in one of its publications, before a court verdict against the journalist entered into force. Sukhovarov was earlier found guilty of fraud by a lower court, but was cleared on appeal.
Political Prisoners
Bandarenka Applies for Pardon. Dzmitry Bandarenka has applied to Alexander Lukashenka for a pardon. According to the wife of the imprisoned opposition politician, her husband told her over the phone that he wrote the pardon application on 1 February 2012.
Sannikov Asks Lukashenka for Clemency. Ex-presidential candidate in the 2010 election Andrei Sannikov filed a petition for pardon to the president. According to the wife of the politician, Iryna Khalip, he took such a step "as a result of torture."
Authorities Continue Force-feeding Jailed Opposition Activist Kavalenka. Authorities continue to force-feed Kavalenka, the wife of the Vitsyebsk-based jailed opposition activist revealed. On 19 December 2011,Kavalenka was arrested at home on a charge of violating probation rules four times and placed in the detention center in Vitsyebsk. He went on hunger strike in protest against the possible revocation of the suspension of his prison sentence. On 16 January, the jail administration began force-feeding him through a tube.
Viasna's Statement: The human rights center Viasna, recognizing the existence of political prisoners in Belarus, published a list of 12 persons. In their statement on 25 January Viasna strongly condemned the use of torture, intimidation, blackmail and other intolerable kinds of harassment against prisoners of conscience. The defenders expressed their concern about the recent report by Iryna Khalip, the wife of former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, saying that the prisoner’s life is at risk due to the reported use of torture and inhuman treatment against him. According to Viasna, three persons convicted for the arson of the Bobruisk KGB building, are subjected to unfair charges and have had excessively heavy penalties imposed upon them.
Human Rights Activists
Aleh Volchak Sentenced to Four Days in Jail. The human rights activist Aleh Volchak was detained on 27 January in Minsk. He was charged with using obscene language in public and spent the weekend in custody in the detention center. On 30 January, the judge sentenced Volchak to four days of arrest. His passport was stolen under mysterious circumstances and the authorities have refused to issue him a new passport, thus preventing him from travelling abroad.
Verdict on Ales Byalyatski Unchanged. On 24 January, Minsk City Court considered the appeal of human rights defender Ales Byalyatski, sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The verdict remains unchanged. The same day, a number of organisations, members and partners of Human Rights House Network called upon the Belarusian authorities to immediately release and drop all charges against Ales Byalyatski, to completely rehabilitate him and to ensure unimpeded activity in the human rights area. The human rights centre Viasna has declared that it will continue its activities on a regular basis in the office it has occupied unless the premises are seized.
Mogilev Human Rights Centre May Stop Working. The reason is financial conditions set by the local authorities. According to Uladzimir Krauchanka, the director of the human rights centre, the authorities want the centre to move to a large office with higher rental fees.
International
Senior EU Official Holding Talks in Minsk. On 8 February Gunnar Wiegand, a senior official of the European Union’s European External Action Service, arrived in Belarus to "establish a European dialogue on modernization with representatives of civil society and the political opposition." Mr. Wiegand met with Belarusian opposition politicians and human rights defenders in Minsk on 9 February. He was also received by Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov.
OSCE Chief Calls for Reinstatement of Presence in Belarus. The new Irish head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe is calling for the reinstatement of an OSCE presence in Belarus, where he says the “continuing erosion of human rights” is cause for concern.
Minsk City Executive Committee Ready to Support Joint Projects with Germany. On the first day of the Conference on Prospects of Social Partnership, held in Minsk, Deputy Mayor of Minsk announced that the city is ready to support, including financially, projects under the sixth phase of the German-Belarusian social partnership program titled Overcoming Borders. During the fifth phase of the program, a total of 42 projects implemented by non-governmental and governmental organizations were supported across Belarus.
Leader of BRSM Participates in CoE Seminar in Strasbourg. On 8 February Igor Buzovskiy, First Secretary of the largest Belarusian pro-government youth organisation BRSM, took part in a seminar for young parliamentarians held simultaneously with PACE in Strasbourg.
Belarus Digest prepared this overview on the basis of materials provided by Pact. This digest attempts to give a richer picture of the recent political and civil society events in Belarus. It often goes beyond the hot stories already available in English-language media.
Visa Ban, Stuffed Animals Protest, Civil Society Champions – Belarus Civil Society Digest
Stuffed animals protest in Minsk (photo: zapraudu.info)
The debate launched by the Office for a Democratic Belarus regarding the fine-tuning of the criteria for applying the EU visa sanctions towards Belarusian officials was the most discussed topic for Belarusian civic activists this week.
Debate Regarding the Visa Ban. The initiative voiced by the Brussels-based Office for a Democratic Belarus to fine-tune the criteria for applying the EU visa ban lists to Belarusian officials went on to create a wide discussion in Belarusian electronic media. Among the most vocal debate participants are political analyst Yury Drakhahrust, BISS academic director Alexei Pikulik, ODB Head Olga Stuzhinskaya, former presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich, Head of the Nash Dom campaign Olga Karach, Head of Human Rights Alliance Lyudmila Gryaznova, Head of Free Theatre Nikolai Khalezin, and others.
Tell the Truth youth wing organizes a stuffed animal protest. On 10 February the youth wing of the Tell the Truth campaign organized a protest in front of the Minsk City Executive Committee, the participants of which were stuffed animals holding different signs such as "Where is freedom of the press?" "Alexander, free the people!" and others.
Civil Society Champions-2011. On 7 February, the Assembly of NGOs held a third annual ceremony titled Civil Society Champions-2011. The winners are Gallery Ў (Venue of the Year), People's Journalist (Initiative of the Year), Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Registration of the Year), Center for Development of Voluntarism (Refusal of Registration of the Year), Campaign to collect signatures against adoption of the Law on Non-Commercial Organizations (Campaign of the Year), Strike of employees of Barysau Housing and Communal Services (Regional Event/Action of the Year), website Prokopovi.ch (Creativity of the Year), and Ales Byalyatski (Civil Society Leader of the Year).
The Public Bologna Committee statement regarding EU sanctions on university rectors. In its statement, the Public Bologna Committee campaigning for education reforms in Belarus condemns the country's system of higher learning as a "tool of the political persecution of dissidents" and stresses that the rectors blacklisted by the EU have ordered the expulsion of students on political grounds and deserve punishment.
Entrepreneurs advocate for introduction of arbitration courts. On 10 February the Association of Small and Medium Business together with a local chapter of United Civic Party held a round-table in Molodechno on issues of business development and elections. Business lawyers argued for the introduction of arbitration courts as a more efficient and cost-effective dispute resolution mechanism.
Business associations want to be heard by the authorities. On 9 February at a press conference in Minsk Chairman of Minsk Capital Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers (MCUEE) Vladimir Kariagin reported that only 21 out of 104 points of last year's National Business Platform of Belarus were fully implemented in 2011, while another 31 proposals are in the final stages of implementation. The business community has shifted some non-implemented proposals to a new platform in the hope that their appeals will be heard by the authorities.
Web portal Green Belarus gathers signatures in support of the Park of the 40th Anniversary of October. The Belarusian Green Portal has started collecting signatures for a petition in defense of the city parks. The collective message will be forwarded to the governmental bodies, which are working with electronic appeals from 2012.
RAIK public report. For the first time the Republican Association of Disabled Persons in Wheelchairs released its Public Annual Report. The report includes a description of all activities and achievements in 2011. By publishing an annual report, RAIK aims "to show the openness of the organization, to tell about its successes".
Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities continues its regional No Barriers campaign. On 8 February the Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities held a public discussion in Vitebsk under the No Barriers campaign. Two more regional public events are planned in Mogilev (15 February) and Gomel (6 February) with a final event scheduled in Minsk on 21 February.
International conference on children’s issues. On 15-17 February, Minsk will host the 3rd International conference on The partnership of government and civil society in Belarus to develop a system of protecting children from violence. The organizer of the Conference is the international NGO Understanding.
Children-topic conference in Gomel. On 4 February in Gomel, a scientific-practical conference, Solving Together the Problems of Gomel's children, was held. The conference organizers were the Belarusian Association of Women Lawyers and the Association and Gomel children and youth ASDEMO. Among the speakers there was a parliamentary deputy, doctors, teachers, and NGO representatives. The conference materials will be published.
Tell the Truth announces the Civil Contract. On 8 February, the Tell the Truth campaign introduced the concept for its activities in 2012. The campaign plans to carry out activities under the Civil Contract, i.e. it agrees be a guide "for one's interest in solving specific problems, contribute to the realization of one's ideas and provide support to one's endeavors" (Andrei Dmitriev). The campaign announced a new phase of its activity: a willingness to decide national problems via solving local ones.
Press Photography in Belarus-2011 album is released. On 9 February, at the Gallery "Ў" a presentation of the Press Photography in Belarus-2011 was held. The album includes more than 200 works from 28 Belarusian photographers.
Competition for young Belarusians. Young Christian Democrats have announced a competition for young people to carry out a joint project with European youth. The main purpose of the competition is to give an opportunity for Belarusian students to communicate directly with students from elsewhere in Europe.
Belarus Digest prepared this overview on the basis of materials provided by Pact. This digest attempts to give a richer picture of the recent political and civil society events in Belarus. It often goes beyond the hot stories already available in English-language media.
