CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
March 15, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml
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IRAQ: ARE BELARUS, UKRAINE SELLING ARMS AND PROVIDING WEAPONS TRAINING?
By Jeffrey Donovan
With U.S. President George W. Bush ratcheting up American rhetoric against Iraq's
Saddam Hussein, attention is focusing on the alleged sales of arms systems to
Baghdad by Ukraine and Belarus. As RFE/RL correspondent Jeffrey Donovan reports,
the systems could help shoot down U.S. and British warplanes patrolling the "no-fly"
zones over Iraq, as well as be used during any future military showdown with
Saddam.
Washington, 14 March 2002 (RFE/RL) -- Allegations have surfaced that Ukraine
and Belarus sold Iraqi President Saddam Hussein anti-aircraft systems and trained
Baghdad's forces to use the weapons, in violation of United Nations sanctions.
The U.S. State Department, which recently threatened sanctions against Minsk
for alleged illicit arms transfers to rogue states, says Washington has credible
evidence that a group of Iraqi officers were in Belarus last fall to be trained
to use the S-300 anti-aircraft system against British and U.S. jets patrolling
the "no-fly" zones over Iraq.
The training, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Steven Pifer,
took place after the September terrorist attacks against the U.S. and President
Bush's subsequent edict that America will not differentiate between terrorists
and the nations that sponsor them.
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BELARUSIAN REGIME SET TO HELP LIFT SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ
Cooperation between Belarus and Iraq is seriously impeded by the economic blockade,
imposed on Iraq, said on Friday deputy head of the presidential administration
Leonid Kozik. The economic blockade interferes with our relations development
and we got to help cancel such measures,  said Kozik. In his turn, head of
the Iraqi delegation, Vice-Premier and Minister of finance of Iraq Hikmat Al-Azavi,
who arrived in Minsk the other day, declared that in case of the sanctions cancellation
Belarus and Iraq would be able to intensify cooperation and widen the partnership
sphere.
During their visit to Belarus the delegation of Iraq will visit the Minsk car
plant, as well as the Integral company.
It is planned that the Iraqi Vice-President will be welcomed by Alexander Lukashenko,
Vice-Premier Sergei Sidorsky, Foreign Minister Mikhail Khvostov and head of the
National Banks board Petr Prokopovich.
According to official data, in 2001 the volume of trade turnover between Belarus
and Iraq amounted to over $26mln  the sum, which stands for the Belarusian export
alone.
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BORODIN DECLINES TO PAY FINE TO GENEVA PROCURACY
Lenta.ru
Pavel Borodin wont appeal against the ruling on the cessation of the lawsuit,
instituted against him by the Geneva procuracy. At the same time Borodin refused
to pay a fine, set by the cantons prosecutor Bernard Bertossa.
Interfax quotes Borodins lawyers Eleonora Sergeeva and Genrikh Padva as saying
that their trustee claims that the Geneva procuracy has no legitimate right
to revise the decisions of the Russian law-enforcement bodies, as well as to
investigate into his case.
As you remember, the Swiss accused the former Russian presidents aide of money-laundering,
earned through illicit construction contracts, presented to the Mabetex and Merkata
Trading firms.
In early March 2002 the procuracy sentenced Borodin to a $175thsd fine and shut
the case.
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Director Of Tractor Stadium to Face Trial
The Public Prosecutors Office of the October district of Minsk finished an preliminary
investigation that lasted for four months. The action was instigated against
the director of the StadiumTractor Ltd. Director Vasil Alejnikau. The actions
of the director, similar to the accusations right after the detention, is accused
of serious bribe (Article 430 part 2 of the Criminal Code). The materials of
the investigation, as the Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta informs, are submitted
for the accused for consideration, and after that will be forwarded to the court.
Vasil Alejnikau was detained by the officers of the Department on Economical
Criminality of the October district of Minsk, on November 15, 2001, at the same
time when criminal actions against the direction of the Belarusian railway and
the director of Atlant Kaluhin were brought up. The rumors said that the MTZ
director Mikhail Lyavonau was under threat too. The rumors confirmed in a few
months, when Lyavonau was arrested.
Now the investigation of the Alejnikaus case is finished. The public prosecutors
office denies to comment on the results of the investigation. However, it is
asserted that from the moment of Alejnikaus detention nothing changed. He is
still accused on charges related to Article 430 part 2 of the Criminal Code.
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100 MINIMAL WAGE FINE FOR MUSTACHED MASKS
Farcical trial proceedings over ZUBRs came to an end in Shklov. Despite numerous
legal violations, vague prosecutions position and contradictory, confusing witnesses
testimony, prosecutor Irina Aldanova considered the guilt of the five ZUBR activists
proven. The state prosecutor demanded that all five be sentenced to a 200 minimal
wage fine. Judge of the Shklovsky district court Holodtsova agreed that the words
lets get rid of a psycho related to Alexander Lukashenko.
Mikhail Kiselev, Maksim Potupchik, Alexander Pavlovich, Denis Senokosov and Dmitry
Shlashkov were accused of having held on August 14, before the presidential elections,
a pre-election performance in the Gorodets collective farm, whose director
once was Lukashenko. The young people put on masks with the pasted mustache and
went to a near-by store to electioneer for the incumbent among the customers,
promising them $100 wage, decrease of prices and jail to all thieves.
On August 15 the court didnt find fault with ZUBRs under the administrative
code and acquitted them. However, the following day, August 16 they instituted
criminal proceedings against them under art.368/1 of the Criminal law (Insulting
the president), entailing a fine or up to two years of corrective labor.
The first courts session took place on February 13, at which the trial was put
off till the 14th, then on 26th and, finally, on 28th.
On February 28 the defendants attorney petitioned the court over the appointment
of a complex art expertise on all things, seized from the youths. However, judge
Holodtsova declined it and called a break until March 14.
So the trial has been lasting for more than half a year. Finally, the judge sentenced
Alexander Pavlovich and Maksim Potupchik to a 20 minimal wage fine. Mikhail Kiselev,
Denis Senokosov and Dmitry Shalashkov were fined 100 minimal wages each. All
the material evidence, such as masks and gowns will be demolished upon the courts
decision.
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SHEIMAN IMPLICATED IN ZAVADSKYS DISAPPEARANCE SAYS PAVEL SHEREMET
Dmitry Zavadskys friend and colleague Pavel Sheremet continues to insist on
the implication of the prosecutor general of Belarus Viktor Sheiman in the disappearance
of the ORT cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky. Sheremet also believes that during the
trial over the kidnappers they deliberately avoided the subject of the secret
services involvement in the disappearance of Zavadsky. The journalist also said
that, according to his data, there are files in the Russian law-enforcement bodies,
which may facilitate the investigation process, but these materials are currently
kept in secret. Moreover, Sheremet is convinced that Dmitry Zavadsky is dead.
So far they havent investigated into the participation of the former presidential
security service officer, present Almaz fighter in the matter. At the moment
Leonenko is acting in the process in witnesss capacity. It remains unclear why
they translated him into a different status, for, as to my knowledge, they had
serious evidence against him. As concerns Alexander Lukashenkos role in the
story, Bozhelko mentioned the possible implication of Lukashenkos right hand
Viktor Sheiman,  Radio Svaboda quotes Sheremet as saying.
Commenting on the results of the Ignatovichs group trial, Sheremet suggested
that Dmitry Zavadsky is not to be found alive. At the same time Sheremet cited
the former countrys prosecutor general Oleg Bozhelko:
They tortured him, broke his spine and decided to kill, for there was no other
way for them to hide this crime. They wanted to learn from him what he knew about
the secret operation of the Belarusian government in the Caucasus, Chechnya.
Oleg Bozhelko sticks to this version and it sounds most plausible to me too.
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ZAVADSKYS KINSMEN DEMAND TO FIND WHOS BEHIND ABDUCTION
Relatives of the missing ORT cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky, who vanished on July
7, 2000 in Minsk, intend that police resume investigation into Dmitrys vanishing.
The thing is, the Minsk regional court, which sentenced on March 14 four people
for various heavy crimes, including Zavadskys abduction, hasnt shed any light
on his destiny. Moreover, Zavadskys close kindred deem it necessary to find
the true organizers of his murder.
The jury found two suspects out of four guilty of kidnapping the journalist 
former Almaz officer Valery Ignatovich and former Almaz fighter Maksim Malik.
The two received life sentences with full property confiscation. Another two
members of Ignatovichs gang  Aleksei Guz and Sergei Savushkin  were sentenced
to 25 and 12 years of jail accordingly.
All the defendants deny their guilt. Following the end of the trial proceedings
they called the investigation a circus, while Ignatovich declared a hunger-strike
in protest.
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OPPOSITION DOESNT BELIEVE IN FAIRNESS OF TRIAL OVER IGNATOVICHS GROUP
Opposition does not trust the objectiveness of investigation and verdict against
the Ignatovichs group. Political motivation in the case could be noticed
at first glance. Ignatovich and his group became scapegoats, which are designed
to bear responsibility for all crimes. Zavadskys real case consideration is
therefore still future, said leader of the United Civil Party Anatoly Lebedko.
In his opinion, theres no independent judiciary in Belarus as such.
The fact that the court didnt sentence the four to capital punishment (the CoE
pleaded not to do it), is, according to Lebedko, a mere flirtation of official
Minsk with Europe in order to get political dividends from this move.
BPF party leader Vintsuk Vyachorka commented on the sentence the following way:
Theres no independent judiciary in Belarus. Instead there exists a political
order from above for any process, whose results may influence the situation development
and the public opinion. This process, stressed Vyachorka, was kept confidential
from the society and so in case of real democratization, there must be carried
out repeated investigation and trial on the matter. Needless to say that the
formal investigation touched upon only one disappeared person, while the situation
with the rest remains in the dark. This provoked justified suspicions among the
populace,  underscored Vyachorka.
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BALTIKA DISSATISFIED OVER BELARUS PLAN
Petersburg brewery Baltika received from the Belarusian government a project
of the investment agreement on the Krynitsa beer-making plant. The details
of the offer arent divulged yet, but Baltikas Vice-President Adam Tlekhurai
said in an interview to the newspaper Vedomosti that the conditions, set forth
by the Belarusian authorities sound least beneficial to him.
Baltika intends to reply to the Belarusian plan with the one of her own origin.
The most important issue in the Belarusian proposals, as claimed by the Vice-President
of Belarus Alexander Popkov, is the demand of social guarantees for the companys
workers. During the February negotiations with the countrys Ministry of economy
they mentioned that Baltika would receive a control stock of Krynitsa shares
not until it further reinvests all profits into the economy of Belarus. However,
say the pundits, Baltika could have been well displeased with the price of
the control stock.
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BALTIKA-KRYNITSA ABOUT TO BE MARRIED?
Rosbalt
In early March the business life of Minsk was waiting for an important event
 the countrys leading brewery Krynitsa was about to be brought back in operation
following its capital reconstruction. Regrettably, the scheduled event was postponed
and it remains unclear till what time.
Only look how wonderfully things started! Exactly a year ago in March 2001 Minsk
was visited by a man with a name sounding kind of strange for the Belarusian
ear  Taimuraz Bolloev. The national mass media presented the head of the Petersburg
company Baltika as a much promising beer baron. Bolloev rendezvoused with
Alexander Lukashenko and, according to the local TV reports, pledged to invest
$50mln into the technological modernization of Krynitsa  leader of the Belarusian
brewers industry.
News about that in no time received political traits for Belarus was getting
ready for the presidential elections. Opposition activities noticed in this $50mln
the money, designed to cover Lukashenkos election campaign. However, later these
suspicions proved false. More than that, Belarus never saw Baltikas money
over the months, which passed after they reached the agreement.
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LUKASHENKO WASTES FORTUNES ON VACATION
Alexander Lukashenko is spending his vacation in a five-star Klosterbroi hotel
in the Austrian Alps and will stay there until Sunday March 17. The royal apartments
of the hotel, which accommodates Lukashenko and his crew, cost 780 euros per
day (over $700). A ten-dollar stay in the hotel will cost Lukashenko more than
his official annual salary, reports www.yusnews.com.
Meantime, the Komsomolskaya Pravda described the opulence of the hotel, where
Lukashenko is living these days. Klosterbroi is designed to accommodate 200
guests, helped by 150 hotel servants. In the morning the hotel dwellers have
regular Swedish-type breakfast, while in the evening the guests, dressed in evening
garments can taste five changes of dishes. Moreover, in the hotels wine-cellars
they store 20 thousand bottles of perfect wine. Klosterbroi is popular with
members of Europes royal families and many famous people. Among the hotels
visitors once were singer Latoya Jackson, prominent Italian mountain skier Alberto
Tomba, top-model Linda Evangelista, actresses Claudia Cardinale and Brigit Bordo.
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CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
March 15, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml