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Zmitser Dashkevich sentenced to 1.5 years
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01/11/2006
Zmitser Dashkevich had been sentenced to 1.5 years in prison. He was charged with acting within unregistered organization Partnerstva contrary to Section 193 of the Criminal Justice Act. Among other arguments, the Defense argues the unconstitutionality of the said Section of the Act, but this did not make any impact. The received sentence was one of the harshest as the maximum possible sentence under the legislation was 2 years.
This was not the first prosecution arising from the activity of Partnerstva. In August 2006 4 organization’s activists were sentenced. The legislation allowing all these prosecution was introduced at the time of election campaign, and thought to be designed to prevent citizens from taking active part in political life. Much becomes clear if to mention that all these trials took place behind the closed doors.
On the day of sentencing, hundreds of people gathered near the Katrychnitsky Court building. They were standing with Dashkevich portraits scanning “Freedom to Dashkevich!”, “Long live Belarus!” Many independent voices within Belarus express their sadness with the prosecution of a youth. It was also noted that recent time the number political prisoners was growing, and more should be done to stop this tragedy.
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4 members of “Partnerstva” sentenced
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8/08/2006
Members of not registered organization “Partnerstva” all sentenced at the Minsk Central District Court. Mikola Astreika received 2 years in prison, Timafei Dranchuk – 1 year in prison, Enira Branickaya and Alexander Shalaika – 6 months of administrative arrest. All four have already spent half a year behind the bars awaiting the trial.
The youth only intended to observe the President Elections process, to analyze its transparency and fairness. According to numerous observers all four did nothing to deserve such sentences. The accusations and course of trial closely reminded the political theatre, unfortunately with sad ending.
The court hearing took place behind the closed doors. After the announcement and exit of the four from the court building, friends and supporters started throwing white and red flowers before them. Many others were standing quietly in t-shirts with the pictures of the four under the pouring rain.
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Repressions continue in Belarus
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14/04/2006
Special envoy of the United Nations on human rights Adrian Severin has called authorities of Belarus to stop reprisals and to enter into the dialogue with representatives of all sectors of Belarus' society. For second month in a row in civil rights organizations receive information about the pressure on students, dismissals from work of participants of protest actions as well as simple oppositionists.
Tens of young men were excluded from Colleges and Universities for participation in protest actions. In some cases students were forced to "confess and show remorse" before other students; often their parents were called, (even if those lived in other cities) and the pressure was put through them.
Many people were dismissed from jobs even for participation in elections observation; there was no difference whether they worked on state or private enterprises.
Among hundreds convicted during and after presidential elections come into attention names of journalists from Ukraine and Poland. Several foreign journalists were no allowed to enter Belarus on the border, several others were beaten by the police and people in the civilian.
Just has just became known, that two activists of the movement of resistance "Zubr" Alexander Kazakou i Zmicer Zubro have been sentenced to two years of corrective works "chemistry" for drawing during New Year's holidays on a wall of a slogan " Over the top." Young men consider their verdict as unlawful and unreasonable.
In addition to everything, independent newspapers of Belarus have been refused by the Russian partners in printing. Many connect this with the support of Belarus' dictator from the rullers of Russia. And these all happens in the atmosphere of propagation, misinformation and intimidation by state-controlled mass media.
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More political leaders sentenced
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15/06/2005
On the 31 day of May the leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada) Mikola Statkevich and the leader of the Young Popular Front Organization (Malady Front) Paval Sevyarynets have been sentenced to three years of personal restraint (corrective labour). And on the 10-th day of June Andrei Klimov was sentenced to a year and a half of personal restraint. These verdicts extended a list of political prisoners sentenced recently - Mikhail Marinich, Valeriy Levonevsky, Aleksandr Vasilyev, Sergey Skrebets.
Mikola Statkevich and Paval Sevyarynets was convicted on a charge of organizing a mass protest actions against falsification of the results of the parliamentary vote and referendum, Andrei Klimov was convicted on a charge of organizing a mass protest in Minsk on the Day of Proclamation of Belarus?Independence. The sentence of the first two is to be reduced to two years, subject to amnesty.
In the court Mikola Statkevich refused to stand up and answer the judge’s questions, saying that he could not believe in the independence of the court, and that the judge could pass a fair sentence. For this he was sentence to 10 days of arrest for contempt to court.
It was not the first criminal case for Mikola Statkevich, Paval Sevyarynets and Andrei Klimov. It is thought that their sentences were designed to frighten the whole society, especially new leaders, before the president elections next year. Many oppositionists to the regime inside the country were deeply concerned and intimidated by such abuse of the court system. However, Andrei Klimov despite all is going to participate in the named elections.
The recent sentences echoed not only in Belarus. So EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana condemns the verdict of the court of Centralny district of Minsk to Andrei Klimov ”It is an excessive punishment for actions, which according to OSCE and a number of other organizations are nothing but a peaceful democratic activity.?The Embassy of the United States of America expressed its grave concern over the May 31 conviction and sentencing of Mikola Statkevich and Paval Sevyarynets “Convicting Statkevich and Sevyarynets a second time for exercising their internationally acknowledged rights of expression and assembly is a travesty of justice and a clear abuse of the courts for political purposes. The United States calls on Belarusian authorities to immediately release Statkevich and Sevyarynets and to halt the civil and criminal persecution of members of independent civil society.?#060;br>
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Alexander Lukashenka rejected possibility of public control over KGB
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01/02/2005
“They must be active even in the situations when no other agencies such as the police or public prosecutor office can intervene,??said Lukashenka.
In such way Belarusian dictator commented a possibility of a public control over KGB (Committee of State Security). Even though such control is essential in societies abroad, Alexander Lukashenka told that this agency had to report back only to him along and that KGB’s power and authority had to be beyond the law.
Recent times in Belarus many political opposition leaders were either jailed or disappeared. Behind many there cases was KGB’s activity.
After the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia and 2004 Ukrainian Orange Revolution, Mr. Lukashenka repeatedly publicly required from the Committee to do more in the political field. Many analytics connect Stepan Sukharenka’s replacement of Leonid Yerin on the position of a head of KGB with future possible attacks by this agency on opposition groups and other independent unions of people.
In isolated Belarus times for oppositionists are getting tougher and tougher; and recent Marinich case, which shocked the World’s society, may only be the beginning of repressions and series of attacks on civil society.
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Human Rights Watchdogs Reveal Facts of Tortures Of Protest Rallies?Participants
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11/11/2004
Human rights center “Viasna?is preparing “Preliminary Monitoring on Facts Of Tortures and other inhuman ways of treatment of Belarusian citizens? A separate section in the monitoring is called “Beating of participants protesting against rigged results of elections and referendum of October 17,2004? More and more of such facts are discovered as time goes by. Today Dzmitry Barodka, one of the leaders of the European coalition “Free Belarus? participant of the protest action against rigged election and referendum results provided the Human Rights center “Viasna?with the following information.
“I was beaten up by special squad policemen after I was detained at the protest rally on October 20, 2004. I was thrown into a bus with riot policemen. Several policemen started to hit my. They were beating me on my face, on kidneys. My jacket was torn in several places. After some minutes they stopped. But my mobile phone rang, and I started to talk on it. Then several persons (4 or 5) attacked me again. They floored me, twisted my arms behind my back, seized my phone. Somebody has put his feet on my head, several times kicked on my back. They did not let me stand up. I rested lying on the floor for about 15 minutes, and after that finally I was allowed to stand up?
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Sixth Day Of Protest Rallies In Minsk
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23/10/2004
For the sixth day in a row in the center of Minsk people protested against rigged results of the parliamentary elections and referendum. Today about a hundred people took part in the protest. Among them were members of the European coalition “Free Belarus? “Zubr ?activists and students of Minsk universities. Demonstrators were holding streamers “Shejman, Sivakov, Pavlichenko, Naumov are suspected of people’s abductions by world community? “Release Political Prisoners!? “We remember? “Lukashenka, where are Hanchar, Krasousky, Zakharanka, Zavadsky?? flags of the European Union, portraits of disappeared public figures Viktar Hanchar, Anantol Krasousky, Yuri Zakharanka, and of the people sentenced to imprisonment for “insulting?Lukashenka: members of the European coalition “Free Belarus?Valery Levanewsky and Alyaksandr Vasilyew.
Dzmitry Bandarenka, member of the European coalition “Free Belarus? coordinator of the Charter?7, addressed the meeting. He reminded the protesters that Prosecutor General Viktar Shejman, ex-Minister of the Interior Affairs Yuri Sivakov, SWAT commander Dmitry Pavlichenko and Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov are suspected of assassination of well-know Belarusian politicians and a journalist, and that these criminal cases are not investigated. The politician called upon the protesters to come to the Prosecutor General Office and demand the answer from Minister of the Interior General Prosecutor Shejman.
However, when they started to move along the Skaryna Avenue, riot policemen rushed to the protesters and started to squeeze them out from the square brutally. Dzmitry Bandarenka was surrounded by 15 riot policemen in special outfit who tried to force him from the square. They pushed him from the October square to the Svaboda Square. Bandarenka through megaphone started to draw attention of the special forces representatives to the fact that the Ministry of the Interior is headed by a person suspected of assassinations of Belarusian citizens. Protesters followed Bandarenka and riot policemen, chanting “Long live Belarus!?and “Shame!? In the vicinity of the Svaboda Square riot policemen got into buses and left.
Demonstrators returned to the October Square. Other riot policemen again used their usual method and forced the procession towards the exhibition centre, not allowing them to go to the Office of Public Prosecutor or to the Interior Ministry.
Dzmitry Bandarenka thanked the people for their courage and invited them to come to the October Square tomorrow, at 6 p.m.
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Police seize legally printed campaign leaflets from parliamentary candidates
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04/10/2004
Police seized large quantities of campaign leaflets from registered parliamentary candidates Valentina Polevikova and Aleksandr Dobrovolsky, activists of the United Civic Party (UCP), as a result of a search of their campaign office on the night of October 1. More than 10 police officers led by a deputy chief of Minsk`s Leninsky district police office followed plumbers in the apartment used by the candidates as the campaign office and got down to searching it without producing any warrant, according to the Belarusian Service of RFE/RL.
The raid reportedly ended in the seizure of all the 15,000 electioneering leaflets of UCP Deputy Chairman Dobrovolsky, which had been legally printed with money provided by the election authorities. Ms. Polevikova was luckier, as only some part of her leaflets were seized. The police also took away piles of copies of the independent newspaper Nedelya, which UCP activists passed out under an agreement with the editorial office at public places designated for electioneering.
All the material was seized although the candidates produced document confirming its legal origin. Attending the search were three OSCE election observers, but this did not help prevent the seizure. Ms. Polevikova vainly complained by phone to Lidiya Yermoshina, head of the central election commission, during the search.
According to Ms. Polevikova, police officers were especially angered by cartoons depicting top-ranking government officials on the back page of the Nedelya edition.
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