CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
March 7, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml
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ZUBRS FOR DECENT LIFE
06.03.2002
ZUBR movements activists spread on March 6 in the town of Mosty one thousand
announcements, in which they called upon the town dwellers to address their executive
committee and demand that the municipal services execute their duties well. Similar
actions took place in over 20 towns of Belarus. In Minsk and Minsk region alone
there have been glued around 100 thousand analogous announcements. In this way
ZUBRs marked one month since the start of their new campaign. Within one months
time ZUBRs held under the common motto Cant live like that anymore dozens
of actions on social themes in various Belarusian towns.
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CHIGIRS DEFENSE TO APPEAL AGAINST VERDICT
Defenders of Alexander Chigir, son of the former Belarus Prime Minister, as
well as of Anton Yashin and Dmitry Yutskevich, condemned on March 6 to various
prison terms, intend to appeal against the verdict in the near future, reports
BelaPAN. Yashins attorney Svetlana Labokho told the journalists that the defense
is dissatisfied with the courts ruling: In our opinion it is arbitrary and
unjustified and therefore must be appealed against. We will continue to struggle
for final victory,  said she. Larisa Trifonova, Yutskevichs lawyer, is certain
that the defendants are innocent. In her opinion, the complaint will mention
numerous violations of the Code on criminal proceedings, which took place during
the preliminary investigation.
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ZUBR REMINDS KGB OF ANDREI ZAITSEVS DEMISE
ZUBR activists reminded Gomel residents that the KGB agents have led to a suicide
their fellow Andrei Zaitsev. Overnight March 5-6 ZUBRs glued over a hundred of
portraits of their comrade in the streets, adjacent with the town KGB headquarters.
Under the photo there was made an inscription in black frame: Andrei Zaitsev,
ZUBR movements activist, led to a suicide by KGB agents.
At around three in the night, when the gluing was over, the law-enforcers detained
under-aged Anton Fedkin. The boy was delivered to the Central police station
of Gomel, where he faced protocol under art.143 of the Administrative code.
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AMBULANCES GO ON STRIKE IN MOGILEV
Strike of the ambulance drivers took place on February 6 in Mogilev. Instead
of the planned 29 ambulance vehicles, there appeared in full readiness only
six cardiology medical groups for emergency cases. The rest of the vehicles never
left the parking lot, while the drivers notified all directors about the strike
and expressed protest against salary payment delays. The people demanded that
they be paid wages for January and February. Their demands were upheld by the
colleagues, catering for the hospitals and polyclinics of the regional center.
As a result, reports Radio Ratsya, acting chairman of the Mogilev town hall Viktor
Dubailov had to promise to the workers that within one day they will find money
to pay salaries. After that, at noon, the rest of the ambulance cars went on
their regular mission around the town.
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TV CHANNELS GO SHUT AFTER YUSCHENKOS SPEECHS BROADCASTING
Following the Saturday speech by the leader of the electoral bloc Nasha Ukraina
Viktor Yuschenko, the state inspection for electronic communications stopped
on Tuesday the broadcasting of the TV Channel-5 (Nikopol town, Dniepropetrovsky
region), reports the Ukrainski Novini. During Yuschenkos visit to Nikipol
the man was given extra air time by the nominee for the deputy of the Supreme
Rada and candidate for Nikopols mayor Konstantin Lyaschenko. The press-service
of the Nasha Ukraina bloc reported with a reference to Lyaschenko that the
town and regional publishing houses refused to publish the Nikopolskiye Izvestiya
newspaper, owned by Lyaschenko, with the materials on Yuschenko and Nasha Ukraina
bloc.
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TWO MORE BELARUSIAN BUSINESSMENS ARRESTS DEMANDED BY PROSECUTORS OFFICE
Two more names were added to a list of businessmen, who were arrested on the
order of the Belarusian side outside Belarus. As was found out by BDG, two
businessmen who were involved in construction of the notorious scientific and
manufacturing association Almazot were arrested on the case of Belpromstrojbank.
The question of their extradition will be considered shortly.
The information was neither confirmed nor rejected officially by the Public Prosecutors
Office of the Republic of Belarus. The Investigation Committee of the Interior
Ministry could not give full information. They just confirmed that abroad two
businessmen related to that construction were arrested on request of the Belarusian
side. However their names and the country that will decide the question of their
extradition were not said. Nevertheless, in spite of the lack of cooperation
of the officials, the newspaper managed to get some information.
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NAFTANS DIRECTOR GENERAL NOT DETAINED YET
Information about the arrest of the director general of the Novopolotsk plant
Naftan Konstantin Chesnovitsky doesnt correspond to reality, BelaPAN quotes
the procuracy press-secretary Aleksei Taranov as saying. According to him, so
far they havent brought charges against any of the Naftans leaders and none
of them were detained. Legal action was instituted over the infliction of $1,7mln
damage upon the company through a deal with some American firm. At the moment
police is examining facts of other similar deals, checking the full circle of
people, implicated in them. The procuracy representative refused to mention the
names of the Naftans officials, who are considered main suspects on the matter,
referring to the investigations secrecy.
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DIRECTORS TRADE UNION SET UP AT MAZ
The new trade union organization is currently being set up at the Minsk car-building
plant. The initiative of its creation comes from above, said the chairman of
the national trade union of the workers of car-building and agricultural machinery
Alexander Bukhvostov at the March 6 press-conference in Minsk.
At the moment they are collecting signatures under the proposal to set up a new
trade union structure. Under the current legislation, to do so one needs to gather
the signatures of 10% of the companys employees. Bukhvostov states that the
heads of workshops and sections were given instructions to assist in the formation
of the new trade union, reports BelaPAN. The plants administration also pledges
to help transfer to the new structures accounts the trade union dues, which
is a breach of the governmental ruling of December 14, 2001. As is known, this
ruling cancelled the cashless order of dues payment, having evoked quite a negative
feedback from both the Belarusian trade unions and the international trade union
structures.
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NO STATE PROGRAMS ACCOMPLISHED IN 15 YEARS AFTER CHERNOBYL
In 15 years since the Chernobyl tragedy, not even a single program on overcoming
the consequences of the disaster has been accomplished in full, said at the March
6 session of the department for emergency situations and radioactive protection
of the Gomel region hall chairman of the Committee for Chernobyl problems of
the Belarusian Cabinet Vladimir Tsalko. Both the funding and the scheduled events
bear declarative character. Mostly this is caused by the lack of financial resources.
For instance, in 2002 out of the necessary 265bln rubles they will earmark only
175bln for the purpose.
----------------------------------------------------------------MAZ BADLY NEEDS
MAIN ASSETS RENEWAL
In order to technically renew the equipment of the Minsk car plant it is necessary
to attract every day $40-50mln in course of the next five years, said at the
March 6 press-conference in Minsk MAZ technical director Alexander Rakomsin.
The plant, he said, is unable to fulfill this task on its own, for even during
the best years we could spend on the technical sophistication of the equipment
no more than $20mln a year. In 2001 the renewal of the main assets constituted
0,6%.
At the same time Rakomsin underscored that the technical renewal of the MAZs
production capacities must be implemented anyway, otherwise in a couple of
years we may be forever left behind the worlds car manufacturers. Especially
acute stands the necessity to introduce advanced systems of car electronics,
as far as in our days a car without electronic equipment is but a pile of metal.
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RESPONSIBLE FOR NEMIGA STAMPEDE TO STAND TRIAL
Legal action over the police negligence, resulting in the deaths of 53 people
in the Nemiga tube stations underpass, has been handed over to court. There
are only two suspects on the matter: deputy head of the police department for
public order of the Minsk city hall Viktor Rusak and former head of the mass
activity department Mikhail Kondratin. Both men plead not guilty. Viktor Rusak
during the investigation proceedings refused to give testimony. Mikhail Kondratin,
as former liquidator of the Chernobyl consequences, was amnestied. However, he
also denied his guilt and turned down the amnesty proposal.
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NEW PURGES AT BELARUSIAN TV CHANNEL
The whole board of the spot programs of the Belarusian TV was dismissed on March
6. First, on March 5, Uladzimer Shpitalnikau, the editor-in-chief of the sports
programs, who had just returned from Slat Lake City, was fired. Then the directors
of the sports programs board Uladzimer Isat, as well as Brys Gersten, assistant
of the director, were dismissed. The chief artist of the Belarusian channel Henrykh
Stradau was among the dismissed too.
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CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
March 7, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml