Mailing List Service Felist.Com -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE January 3, 2002 read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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%. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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%). ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE January 3, 2002 read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: http://felist.com/member/unsub?grp=media.charter97 http://felist.com/ mailto:ask@felist.com