CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
February 5, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml
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PROCURACY THREATENS PAGONYA JOURNALISTS WITH LEGAL ACTION
The journalist of the independent Grodno newspaper Pagonya, closed by the authorities,
Pavel Mozheiko was summoned on February 4 again to the Grodno region procuracy.
Vesna reports that the investigator Oleg Kulevich was eager to know the whereabouts
of the Pagonyas editor Nikolai Markevich. During the interrogation the investigator
handed to Pavel Mozheiko a court summons for February 14, having warned him that
they would charge him with criminal felony. Most likely, he added, the correspondent
may face indictment under art.367 of the Criminal code (slander against the president
of the Republic of Belarus). One cant rule out the possibility that same charges
will be brought against Nikolai Markevich too.
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CULTURE TRANSFERRED TO SELF-SUPPORT SYSTEM
Vice Premier Vladimir Drazhin voiced during the Ministry of cultures meeting
Alexander Lukashenkos directive, obliging cultural institutions to seek non-budget
funds in order to enhance their self-support capability from 10 to 30%. As a
vivid example, they mentioned the Ministry of education, where the self-support
level reached 36%. According to Drazhin, the Ministry of culture required to
be given by the state this year 17bln rubles, but so far received only 2,5bln.
The Brest region solves the problem in the following way  according to the head
of the culture department of the regional committee Roman Bysuk, in order to
economize money they plan to shut down in the near future around 50 countryside
clubs and unite 18 other clubs into one with libraries. They will also liquidate
18 cinemas. In total, 163 cultural workers will be made redundant. They also
expect to seriously raise the prices on entry tickets to the museums and concert
halls, as well as the fees for the kids education in art schools.
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JEWS HOLD REGIME ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANTI-SEMITISM
Leader of the Universal organization of the Belarusian Jews Yakov Gutman believes
that the Belarusian authorities are sticking to the old practice of anti-Semitism.
As an example of that he cites the state-sanctioned demolition of the former
synagogue in Minsk, located in the Dimitrova street, 3. Attempts to save the
building proved futile and so now they are building a residential area at that
place. The Union of artists, to whom the former synagogue officially belonged,
allowed the Komikon company to build the living quarters there in exchange
for providing the artists with workshops at its attic.
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GASPROM HESITATING
Russian Vice-Premier Viktor Khristenko declared that at the Monday session of
Gasproms directorate they never discussed the project on laying the gas pipeline
around Ukraine through Poland. Viktor Khristenko, whos an active member of the
companys directorate, said this in an interview to the RIA Novosti information
agency. Previously they reported that another Gasproms director Boris Fedorov
mentioned in his phone conversation with investors that the directorate had allegedly
ruled not to build the pipe through Poland, avoiding Ukraine.
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BELARUSIAN COMPANIES WONT GROW JOINT STOCK
Last year the Belarusian government planned to reform 150 state-owned companies.
At 122 of them the labor teams refused to alter their companies status. On the
basis of 23 enterprises there sprang up joint stock companies, 4 became open
joint stocks, while 18 were returned back to their owners from whom they had
been leased. Now there only remain in states property 22 companies, the leasing
agreements of ten of them being expired.
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UKRAINES SUPREME COUNCIL SET TO OPEN LEGAL ACTION VS KUCHMA
The Ukrainian parliament upheld on Tuesday the deputies appeal to the prosecutor
general of Ukraine Mikhail Potebenko on instituting criminal action against the
Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, former minister Anatoly Lobov and MP Efim
Zvyagilsky.
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 ICE AGE IN BELARUS-WEST RELATIONS
In relations of Belarus and the West an Ice Age may come in case official Minsk
wont make certain steps on the path of democratization, the head of the PA
OSCE working group Uta Zapf said in her interview to Interfax. As said by her,
the requirement to settle situation with the work of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring
Group in Minsk is number one in the list of PA OSCE requirements. Uta Zapf
added that this problem is not connected to the work of the PA OSCE special
group directly, but it creates a political atmosphere around other questions.
According to Mr. Uta Zapf opinion, Belarus should also broaden functions of the
parliament, change the legislation on mass media, and to introduce the position
of the ombudsman on human rights. In case this would not be done, conception
of improvement of relations with Belarus, by the USA and European international
organizations, will be thrown away to the waste bin, Uta Zapf said.
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LICENSING TO BRING ABOUT INDEPENDENT RESEARCH CENTERS CLOSURE
Adoption of social research licensing will cause closure of independent research
centers in Belarus. It was stated by Aleh Manaeu, the head of the Independent
Institute of Social, Economic and Political research in Belarus (IISEPR). Administration
of the president in its letter sent to the scientific organizations of the country
 the Belarusian State University, Sociology Institute of the National Academy
of Science, to the Belarusian non-state association Sociological Society.
According to Manaeu, centers will be shut down for the most part because of stopped
funding of the independent research.
The head of the IISEPR says that all independent analytical centers are financed
from to sources: private business and international grants. He explains that
a rigid system of reports exists, and grantees report back to the organizations
that finance projects how the funds were used. Introduction of licensing of sociological
research, as said by him, is a response of the authorities to the active work
of the independent centers during the election campaign-2001. I think that the
authorities have decided to put an end to it eventually, - Manaeu said.
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NO MORE CULTURE AND ART IN BELARUS
The Ministry of Culture passed a ruling to merge the magazine Mastatstva (Art)
and the newspaper Kultura (Culture). As Radio Svaboda asserts, it is made to
cut down expenses and to control the periodicals more effectively. It is proposed
that the new holding Kultura I Mastatstva will be headed by Liliana Antsukh,
and the present editors-in-chief Alyaxei Dudarau and Ludmila Krushynskaya are
to become her assistants. A big staff reduction in the both periodicals is expected.
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UTA TSAPF DECLINES TO FORETELL OSCE PA PERMANENT COUNCILS DECISION ON BELARUS
Head of the special working group of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly for Belarus
Uta Tsapf refused to give any forecasts concerning the potential decision, that
would be passed as a result of her visit to Minsk at the session of the OSCE
PA Permanent Council, due to be held on February 21 in Vienna. Our goal is to
simply present the report, while the decision will be passed by the Permanent
Council, - said Mrs.Tsapf at her final press-conference in Minsk on February
5. There exist various opinions among 55 countries, represented in OSCE PA and
so any attempt to guess the results of the voting are close to fortune-telling,
 BelaPAN quotes her as saying.
Since February last year the OSCE PA has adopted a so-called empty seat policy
towards Belarus, meaning that the Belarusian Parliament wont be represented
there at all. OSCE parliamentarians claim that the 13th Supreme Soviets mandate
has already expired, whereas the house of representatives hasnt been democratically
elected. On February 21 the OSCE PA plans to return to considering the Belarusian
issue again.
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LUKASHENKO DISCONTENT OVER RAILROADS PERFORMANCE
Alexander Lukashenko declared that he is dissatisfied with how the things are
going on at the Belarusian railroad. He cited as one of the key reasons for that
the ineffective and unsatisfactory management with a range of heads of the railroad
entangled in power abuse and solving personal problems at the states expense,
 said the Belarusian leader on February 5 during his meeting with the leadership
of the Belarusian railroad. According to him, the inspections into the railroads
performance, carried out by both the procuracy and the Committee for state control
revealed serious omissions and even criminal actions by the railroads directors.
As you remember, currently they are curtailing the Belarusian railroads apparatus,
as far as the Cabinet of Ministers ruled to reduce the number of deputy directors
from seven to four. Certain departments will be united into one, their personnel
facing redundancy. Some of the railroads heads are subject to legal action.
They are accused of committing power abuse and embezzlement.
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BELARUSIAN COMPANIES WONT GROW JOINT STOCK
Last year the Belarusian government planned to reform 150 state-owned companies.
At 122 of them the labor teams refused to alter their companies status. On the
basis of 23 enterprises there sprang up joint stock companies, 4 became open
joint stocks, while 18 were returned back to their owners from whom they had
been leased. Now there only remain in states property 22 companies, the leasing
agreements of ten of them being expired.
In the public utilities sphere they privatized last year 68 objects: 11 were
sold at the auctions and through the business contest; 38 were turned into open
joint stock companies, while at 8 companies the labor groups bought for themselves
the rented state property.
This year, according to the Concept of state property management, they have to
reform no less than 75% of companies with up to 200 employees.
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EPS CALL FOR INVESTIGATION INTO DISAPPEARANCES UNANSWERED
Chairman of the European Parliaments delegation for Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova
Jan Marinus Wiersma and his deputies Lennart Sacredeus and Elizabeth Schroedter
sent their reply to the address into the EP by the wives of the repressed Belarusian
politicians  Ludmila Karpenko, Irina Krasovskaya, Svetlana Zavadskaya, Olga
Zakharenko, Zinaida Gonchar and Tatyana Klimova. We would like to reassure you,
- reads the MEPs letter: that we will continue to express our concern over the
destiny of your husbands and over other human rights violations in Belarus. Regrettably,
we have not received any reply whatsoever to our letter to Mr.Lukashenko and
so we will also forward a copy of this letter to him. You must know that the
European Parliament pays great attention to the development of the fundamental
values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law in Belarus. We intend to exert
pressure on the government of Belarus in future as well, keeping up contacts
with you and others in hopes for changing the situation in your country.
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PA OSCE DELEGATION INSISTS ON AMG OSCE GROUPS PRESENCE IN MINSK
The indefiniteness of the mandate of the Advisory and Monitoring group in Belarus
is the basic problem in the relations of the country with the Western institutions.
It was stated by Uta Zapf, head of the PA OSCE special working group on Belarus
on February 4 in Minsk at the meeting with the leadership of the council of
republic.
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"FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE": BELARUS-WEST RELATIONS RESEMBLE COLD WAR
Following an elegant victory at the elections Lukashenko launched total cleansing,
 an article under such heading was written by Markus Vener  Moscow correspondent
of the Frankfurter Allgemeine, who was the first person among the European
journalists to reveal truth about death quads in Belarus. The journalist notes
that in course of the last four months the Belarusian dictator did everything
according to his own pleasure: imprisoned heads of large companies and even sought
to destroy the work of the OSCE mission in Minsk. According to the chairman of
the OSCE parliamentary working group Uta Tsapf, all his actions testify to the
possibility of escalating tensions between the West and Belarus. In essence,
the situation resembles that of the cold war years.
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 GASPROM LEAVES BELARUS AT A LOSS
The directorate of the Gasprom Ltd. passed a decision during its Monday session
to enhance the capacity of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline and declined to continue
with the project on constructing a pipeline avoiding the territory of Ukraine
through Poland. Interfax was told this during a phone conversation with the
investors by a member of the Gasproms directorate Boris Fedorov.
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GERMAN TRADE UNIONS PROTEST CRACKDOWN ON COLLEAGUES IN BELARUS
President of the trade union of metal-workers of Germany Klaus Zvikel forwarded
his letter to Alexander Lukashenko, which contains the following lines: On behalf
of the IG Metal trade union I express my disapproval over the continuing states
interference in the activities of the Belarusian trade unions, in particular
the new attempts to deprive the Belarusian trade unions of their financial support.
Changes in the system of trade union dues collection in our understanding are
but an element of political strategy aimed at weakening the trade unions. We
will be watching over the further situation development in the Republic of Belarus,
informing our government, the EU Commission and the International Labor Organization
about any anti-trade union activity of the Belarusian authorities.
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GOMEL CHEMICAL PLANT NOT OPERATIONAL FOR 4 MONTHS
www.praca.by
Fall in the solvency demand of the countrys agricultural consumers beginning
with the 4th quarter of last year, has led to the sharp decrease in the production
and shipment to the interior market of phosphorous fertilizers and further 
to the halt in their production. Due to their poor demand at the internal market,
the factory failed to ensure the timely payment for the imported Russian raw
materials, thus causing the frustration of permanent supply. According to the
data of the Russian Apatit, the debt of the Gomel chemical plant for the supplied
raw materials constitutes over $2,7mln. Meantime, the consumers indebtedness
for the supplied phosphorous fertilizers by January 25 amounted to around $1bln
rubles.
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100 TRACTORS IN EXCHANGE FOR SEED CORN
Official visit to Moldova by the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko is scheduled
for late February. INTERLIKs correspondent was told in the Belarusian embassy
in Kishinev that the exact date of his coming to Moldova is to be fixed by the
end of this week. It is planned that in Kishinev Vladimir Voronin and Alexander
Lukashenko will talk on the wide spectrum of issues, touching upon the development
and reinforcement of bilateral trade-economic relations.
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CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
February 5, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml