CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
January 3, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml
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KLIMOVICHI DISTRICT HEAD FACES LEGAL ACTION
Criminal action has been instituted against the chairman of the Klimovichi district
committee (Mogilev region) Vladimir Konovalov. Interestingly, on November 21,
2001 Vladimir Konovalov was awarded by Lukashenko an order of Honor for his contribution
into the social-economic development, creation of real conditions for raising
the populations standard of living and the countrys economic security.
In 2000 Vladimir Konovalov appeared in the epicenter of the scandal. He addressed
with an open letter the local newspaper Rodnaya Niva, in which he accused of
law violation and corruption the leadership of the Klimovichi liqueurs plant
and police. Further investigation resulted in the dismissal of the plants director
and local police sheriff.
For the time being the law-enforcers refuse to comment on the lawsuit, brought
against Konovalov. However, we know that they havent yet blamed him over the
abuse of power. Until January 12 the man will officially be on a holiday leave,
while his duties will be executed by his first deputy.
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ZAGOTTORG DIRECTOR APPREHENDED IN MOGILEV
In Mogilev they arrested red-handed director of the Zagottorg company, while
he was receiving a thousand dollar bribe from his client. BELTA was told in the
local police department that this sum was required by him to provide a giver
with a trade spot at the Zadneprovsky market. Alongside with the director they
also apprehended inspector of the markets security service, who passed the currency
to him. For now they launched criminal action on the matter and are investigating
into it.
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GOSTI MOVIE PRODUCER INDICTED, PLACED IN MENTAL HOSPITAL
Producer from the Belarusfilm state studio Ruslan Zgolich was charged with
stealing seven out of eight series of his movie Gosti (The Guests). Zgolich
can now get 7-15 years in jail, as far as the stolen tapes are estimated at 30
thousand dollars, which means a large-scale theft. Immediately after the procuracy
announced its charges, Zgolich was apprehended and forwarded for an expertise
to the mental hospital.
The procuracy considers the film-makers conduct to be inadequate. At the same
time his lawyer Pavel Sapelko disagrees with such definition. When they brought
up charges against Ruslan they never allowed him to examine the documents in
Belarusian and denied him a meeting with a lawyer. Shortly after that they got
him handcuffed and drove to the police station,  the attorney said to the Radio
Svaboda.
Right from the police ward they took the detainee over to the Novinky mental
hospital near Minsk. The lawyer considers this measure to be illegal, as far
as they first need to diagnose persons mental condition.
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KGB MUST BE CALLED TO ACCOUNT FOR ZUBRS DEATH
Vesna
On December 20, 2001 a 24-year old Gomel resident Andrei Zaitsev all of a sudden
committed a suicide in his own apartment. A few days before his demise Andrei
told his acquaintances that KGB agents had been exerting pressure on him, forcing
him to become their informer. As a proof he presented a tape with audio records
of his phone conversation with a secret service representative. And now that
the young man passed away there exist serious fears that KGB may distance itself
from the tragic incident. But truth is crucial. Thats the reason why chair of
the Gomel regional association Civil initiatives Viktor Kornienko forwarded
an open letter to the KGB head for Gomel Tsakun A.A. Following comes its full
content:
Distinguished Mr.Chairman,
I was impelled to write to you because of an absurd death of a young man Andrei
Zaitsev. Im doing this publicly for Im not sure in the efficacy of any other
way of doing it.
Let me declare in open that approximately two-three weeks before his death Andrei
Zaitsev gave me the information which I believe may help us find out direct or
indirect perpetrators of this crime.
I know that your agency closely examines any, even the most insignificant violation
of public order, like spray-painting graffiti by hooligans etc. Im convinced
that the death of a young person wont leave you indifferent, which will enable
me to hand over to the investigators the information that I have at my disposal.
With respect,
V.Kornienko
Chair of the Gomel regional association Civil initiatives.
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INCITING NATIONAL, RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE
The Vitebsk public was angered by the recent publication in the official newspaper
Vitebsky Rabochy (Vitebsk Worker), containing call to stop erecting Catholic
institutions. Lets prevent them from leading astray the Orthodox people, -
says the anonymous author of the article: We dont want them to entice our children
from Orthodoxy into Catholicism! Let them build on our soil Orthodox temples,
where we could bring up real patriots of our own, rather than of Vatican or some
other country.
Among the first feedbacks to this publication was the statement by the deputy
chair of the national public association Alternative-XXI Gennady Muratov. It
is the authorities who apply the Divide and rule! principle in practice. In
order to distract the nation from the economic disaster, they divide people into
the enemies and their own, into those obedient to the national leader and the
disobedient ones, and, finally, into the Orthodox and the rest. Someone wants
us to start looking into how many temples the Catholics are allowed to build,
how much money goes from the pockets of Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish
and atheist tax-payers to fund the church, which is so active in backing the
official regime. Someone feels like stirring up national and religious xenophobia
in the country, which has been for ages a place of reconciliation of all different
cultures, tongues and religions.
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BELARUS RANKED AMONG MOST BACKWARD CIS MEMBER-STATES
According to the 2001 outcomes Russia took the 6th spot among all CIS states
as to the level of industrial growth. Belarus comes up eighth, while Ukraine
holds top of the list. The PRIME-TASS received this information directly from
the Russian State Committee for statistics.
In Ukraine the index of industrial growth reached the level of 16,1%. Next to
come is Tajikistan with a 14,9% rating, while the third place is taken by Kazakhstan
 13,5%.
In Moldova the industrial production over the ten months rose by 11,5% as compared
with the analogous period last year, in Kirgyzia  by 7,3%, in Russia  5,2%.
These were followed by Azerbaijan with a 4,7% growth rate, Belarus  4,4% and
Armenia  3,3%.
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EURO PUT IN OPERATION IN BELARUS
Since January 3 Belarusian banks started actively working with the new European
currency. Our correspondent reports that the European Central Bank presented
to the National Bank of Belarus a status of the official partner on the information
campaign Euro-2002.
As far as on January 1 the German mark was driven out of operation, the countrys
chief bank Belarusbank will accept until January 25 German marks from the population
to exchange them for euros. This service will be a paid one. Deposits in marks,
placed on the accounts by 01.01.2002, have been automatically and free of charge
converted into euros.
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ZAITSEVS PARENTS DEMAND THAT KGB REFUTE LIBEL AGAINST THEIR SON
Parents of late Andrei Zaitsev, ZUBR activist from Gomel, whom they sought to
recruit into KGB, urge the law-enforcers to investigate into their sons death.
They also expect from the KGB press-secretary Fedor Fotov to refute libelous
information about Andrei. Mother of the deceased Andrei Zaitsev Larisa Nikolaevna
handed over to the Sovietsky district procuracy an audio-tape with records of
her sons phone conversation with the KGB agent and his letter to the Belarusian
Helsinki Committee. In a request, written by Zaitsev two days before his suicide,
he pleads to protect his constitutional rights and personal safety.
So far, they havent opened legal action on the matter. Prosecutor Vladimir Podsekin
refuses to answer any questions on that.
Zaitsevs parents are particularly indignant over the statement of the KGB press-secretary
Fedor Kotov, who said that their son had been allegedly convicted for raping
an underage girl and that he is mentally sick. If this were true, then KGB sought
to recruit and exert pressure on the mentally sick person, which is a greater
crime in itself,  said to the Radio Svaboda Andreis father Yuri Ivanovich.
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SUPPLY ON MINSK APARTMENTS DROPS BY 28%
The supply on living quarters in Minsk fell almost by 28% this week. The demand
reduced by 14%. BELTA correspondent was told by the president of the public association
Belarusian evaluation society Nikolai Trifonov, whos in charge of the research,
that the cost of one square meter of living space fluctuates as previously around
340 dollars. Meantime, notes the specialist, the market quickly narrowed, as
is usually the case in the end of the year.
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PICKET IN MEMORY OF LATE ZUBR ACTIVIST HELD IN GOMEL
On December 29, the ninth day after the tragic demise of the young ZUBR activist
Andrei Zaitsev, the organizations Gomel activists held a commemoration picket
in his honor, lasting for one hour. A 24-year old young man committed a suicide
on December 20. One of the possible motives behind this act was the attempted
recruitment into KGB by someone, who called himself member of the Gomel regional
KGB branch.
On December 29 20 young fellows lined up in a chain in front of the Oktyabr
movie theatre, which is next to Andreis house. Everyone of them raised a portrait
of their deceased friend tied around with a black mourning ribbon.
The picket was taken notice of by the law-enforcers but none of them approached
the protesters.
BelaPAN reports that the local Gomel opposition leader Viktor Kornienko addressed
the Gomel KGB branch over the possible root-causes of Andreis suicide. Kornienko
claims that Andrei told him about the warnings and threats that he received.
However, no legal action on the suicide matter had been opened. Local KGB says
that they are still investigating into the incident.
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FREEDOM MARCH PROTESTERS SENTENCED IN THEIR ABSENCE
The Minsk city court read out a verdict against four participants of the Freedom
March rally, which took place on October 17, 1999. German Sushkevich, Gleb Dogil,
Andrei Volobuyev and Anton Lazarev were all recognized guilty of committing crimes,
envisaged by the criminal law (group actions, violating public order and malicious
hooliganism). All four were sentenced to a 50 minimal wage fine.
The trial took place in defendants absence, for they had been granted the status
of political fugitives and currently reside on the territory of Poland, where
they continue their studies.
Parents of the young people, who attended the court session, shared their utter
dissatisfaction over the verdict in a private conversation with the BelaPAN correspondent.
Gleb Dogils mother said our children are innocent. Thousands engaged in the
Freedom March, but it was them who faced persecution. They had been placed
for a fortnight into the confinement prison. The investigation continued for
too long. They simply made criminals out of our children.
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YEAR 2002 FORETOLD TOUGH FOR ALL BELARUSIANS, AUTHORITIES, OPPOSITION
In his interview to BelaPAN Charter97 coordinator Andrei Sannikov, former countrys
deputy Foreign Minister, said that the year 2001 marked the collapse of Lukashenkos
both domestic and international policy. Although the man remains president for
now, nothing has been done to improve the economy. At the same time the recently
emerged world problems manifest that the policy, which aggressively denies any
democratic values, suffered a crushing defeat on a worldwide scale. After the
September 11 this became absolutely clear,  said Sannikov. He added that the
country not just found herself on the roadside but had been practically excluded
from the processes, which are taking place in the world. No serious breakthrough
steps are to be expected from the Belarusian regime, - stressed Sannikov.
Many European countries are intensively discussing the problem of the non-democratic,
anti-European country in Europe and what they should do about it. According
to Andrei Sannikov, it would be fallacious to believe that as a result of this
Europe would determine to aid Belarus overcome self-imposed isolation. Theres
no isolation as such. Isolation represents quite serious sanctions on behalf
of the world community. It would simply be too naïve to bring down the issue
to mere isolation and its overcoming,  deems Andrei Sannikov. Sannikov claims
that in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist strike and its follow-ups
the Belarusian problem grew terribly acute for the international community.
Even the states, not considered to be democratic at all, now have to take into
account the values of democracy,  said he.
According to Sannikov Lukashenko and his merger plans on an equal footing represent
a problem for the Russian leadership. His bid to play any worthwhile role on
the Russian political arena suffered defeat. It is as clear as daylight that
he received no integration New Year gift during his recent voyage to Moscow.
So I dont really think Alexander Lukashenko should count on any victories at
the Russian political scene in future,  said Sannikov.
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LUKASHENKOS NO LONGER SUPPORTED BY VOTERS SAYS HANS-GEORG WIECK
Real outcomes of the presidential elections give us all hope for the possible
democratic elections in Belarus, - said in an interview to the Austrian newspaper
Die Presse Hans-Georg Wieck, whose mandate as that of the head of the OSCE
Advisory-Monitoring Group in Belarus expired on December 31. Although officially
it had been announced that only around 15% of the electorate voted for the unique
candidate from wide public coalition Vladimir Goncharik, the independent polls
estimate the true outcomes as 30-40% for Goncharik, writes Die Presse. According
to Wieck, Alexander Lukashenko enjoys insignificant support among the voters.
Over the recent years Belarus saw a serious development of the civil society,
assumes Wieck. The elections showed that the society is split up and we cannot
lose half of those people, who wish to live in a democratic state,  said he
in an interview to Die Presse.
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LITHUANIA AWAITS FIRST STEP ON OFFICIAL MINSKS BEHALF
yusnews.info
Drawing the conclusions on the year 2001 in an interview to the British news
service BNS head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Antanas Valionis underscored
that his countrys half-year presidency in the CoE Committee of Ministers, which
came into force on November 8, reinforces Lithuanian positions on the international
scale, especially in the South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. Lithuania, as the
neighbor of Belarus and chair of the CoE Committee alongside with Europe is ready
to embark on some concrete measures to develop relations with Belarus. However,
the first step needs to be done by official Minsk,  said Valionis.
The official claims that Belarus must broaden the parliaments functions, improve
human rights record, introduce ombudsmans office and cancel the capital punishment.
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LIETUVOS ENERGIJA SELLS PART OF BELENERGOS DEBT
yusnews.info
Lithuanian energy company Lietuvos Energija resold part of the debt ($11mln),
owed to it by the Belarusian state energy concern Belenergo for the energy
supplied in 1998-1999, reports deputy director general of the Lietuvos Energija
Alfredas Ramanauskas. The total size of indebtedness amounts to $45mln.
On Saturday the companys leadership and four contests participants signed concomitant
agreements on the matter. The debt being sold, its size reduced to $34mln. Originally,
noted Ramanauskas, the companies claimed readiness to purchase $14mln of the
debt, although later one of the participants changed his mind.
According to the agreements conditions, the companies-buyers will in the near
future transfer $6,085mln as payment for the debt they bought. These means, said
Ramanauskas, are to be directed for the Lietuvos Energija development.
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BELARUS IMPOSES STRICTER CLAIMS ON COMMERCIAL BANKS
On January 1, 2002 the capital of the Belarusian banks, which are licensed to
draw the means of individual depositors, has to amount to no less than 10mln
euro according to the recent ruling of the National Bank. On the same very day,
reports the PRIME-TASS, the National Bank of Belarus obliged the commercial banks
to form the fund of obligatory reserves only in the Belarusian rubles and cut
down the list of licenses, issued for trade and services, sold for foreign currency.
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CONSUMER PRICE RISE IN DECEMBER ESTIMATED HIGHEST IN 2001
The growth of consumer prices in December is likely to become the greatest in
the whole of the year. The Ministry of statistics and analysis reports that over
the first three days of December the consumer prices in the country rose by 4,3%
(the first week  by 1,7, the second  1,1 and the third  1,5). The highest
monthly inflation rate in 2001 was recorded in January (4,8%) and November (4,6%).
Since the beginning of the year the consumer prices in Belarus grew by 44,5%
(over the same period in 2000  by 2,05 times, including over the first three
weeks of December  by 4%).
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41% MINSKERS SEE LITTLE OF MATERIAL WELFARE IMPROVEMENT
How did your financial condition change in the year 2001?  the respondents
were inquired by pollsters from the Zerkalo sociological laboratory of BelaPAN
ahead of the New Year. In course of the survey they polled 500 Minsk residents,
41% of whom said that their financial situation hasnt changed a bit. 30% complained
about deterioration (13% of them pointed at serious deterioration, while 17%
- at an insignificant).
Every forth capitals resident (25%) said they became better-off financially
in the year 2001. 23% said the improvement wasnt that big, while 2% said it
was quite significant. Among those, who said that they earn more than previously
are mostly males, aged under 50 and people with secondary education. In professional
perspective, these are mostly workers, state servants in trade and entrepreneurs.
4% of respondents couldnt say for sure how the past year influenced their economic
status.
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44% MINSKERS HARBOR NO LIBERALIZATION ILLUSIONS
44% of polled Minskers of legal age say that theres been no liberalization whatsoever
in the aftermath to the presidential elections on September 9. These data were
collected on December 18-21 by the Zerkalo pollsters from BelaPAN news agency.
500 Belarusian residents engaged in the survey.
Only 19% of Minsk residents hold on to an opposite thinking, claiming that liberalization
is currently underway. However, only 3% of them regard this as true fact, while
16% only believe it is so, not being quite sure.
Over a third  37%  couldnt properly evaluate liberalization policy, conducted
in the country.
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MOGILEV REGION SALARY DEBT RUNS HIGH AT 4BLN BLR
By December 29 all companies and organizations of the Mogilev region, regardless
of their form of ownership, were supposed to clear off their salary indebtedness
before workers. This demand had been put forth around a month ago by the head
of the regional council Boris Batura. However, only a few managed to fulfill
his claim.
According to the December 28 data, the total size of salary indebtedness in the
Mogilev region constituted 4.351mln rubles. 156mln out of this sum falls on October
debts.
The situation at the agricultural companies goes from bad to worse. The totaled
indebtedness in this sphere amounts to 3,163mln rubles. In industry it reaches
375mln, while in construction business  244mln rubles.
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CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
January 3, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml