CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
March 20, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml
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BELARUS DWELLS IN TENSE EXPECTATIONS
Voice of America
Recently Washington has been seriously discussing the possible application of
sanctions against Minsk for Belarus is ranked among the worlds ten greatest
arms exporters. The States come up with great evidence these days that Minsk
is implicated in shipping ammunition to the rogue states from the so-called axis
of evil. Among Belarus major clients they mention Iraq.
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PROCURACY TIGHTENS UP SCREWS
Over the past two weeks the procuracy instituted 297 legal actions and sanctioned
the arrest of 697 citizens, BelaPAN was told in the countrys procuracy press-center.
The prosecutors bombarded the courts with 2.130 criminal cases against 2616 suspects
and upheld in courts the state accusation under 1592 cases.
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BALTIKA WILL ANSWER FOR LUKASHENKOS OFFENSE
The Baltika company wont sign the investment agreement with Belarus the way
it had been proposed by the countrys government. Gazeta.Ru reports that the
Petersburg brewers will offer to Lukashenkos administration to revise certain
provisions of the document.
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BELARUSIAN UNIVERSITIES STARTLED BY 1937
Leadership of the United Civil Party addressed with an open letter the teachers
and rector of the Gomel state university Mikhail Selkin. The UCP urges them not
to assist the security services in the recruitment and exertion of psychological
pressure on the students. The authors of the letter remind of the recent demise
of a 24-year old Gomel resident Andrei Zaitsev in December 2001, reports BelaPAN.
His relatives and friends claim that the reason for the tragedy was an attempt
at his recruitment into KGB by one of its agent.
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LEGAL ACTION OPENED AGAINST VITTORG LTD.
According to the press-center of the Belarusian procuracy, there had been instituted
criminal action against the Vittorg Ltd directors (Vitebsk) under art.243/2
Tax-evasion. The lawsuits were filed upon the findings of the tax inspections
examinations. According to the detectives, the companys director never registered
in 2001 146thsd vodka bottles, entailing an infliction of large-scale damage
upon the state  around 60mln rubles.
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BERNARD BERTOSSA: I NEVER TOLD BORODIN TO BUY ME FLAT IN GENEVA AS USTINOV DID
The prosecutor general of the Geneva canton Bernard Bertossa intends to retain
over $200thsd from the size of the bail, submitted by the lawyers of the Russia-Belarus
unions press-secretary Pavel Borodin. The man was quoted as so saying in an
interview to GaZeTa.
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UKRAINE STEPS UP ANTI-DUMPING MEASURE TO OUST BELARUSIAN ROOFING MATERIAL IMPORT
Ukraine passed a temporary 74% anti-dumping tariff on the import of the Belarusian
roofing material. The trade sanction will be in force during the four months
until the government releases a concomitant ruling on its termination.
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PAYMENT FOR PROTESTING
www.praca.by
A fancy way of fighting the workers protests was invented by the authorities
of Pinsk. They offered the protesters to pay rent for the space, which they occupy
during their rally. So the trade union meeting, initiated at the local stadium
by the Pinsk residents Alexander Morgol and Sergei Kostukevich, may never see
light.
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SALARY DEBTS SEE 214% LEAP
According to the Ministry of statistics and analysis of Belarus, the salary indebtedness
in February augmented by 37,7bln rubles or 214% in 28 days. Since the beginning
of the year the salary debts rose by 279%. Given this dynamics continues, by
summer the debts will exceed 100% of the salary fund size. Almost half of all
debts fall on agriculture, which finds itself in the direst of straits ahead
of the forthcoming spring sowing.
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ON-LINE CONFERENCE WITH A PROTEST MARCH ORGANIZER YURI KHASCHEVATSKY
A month prior to the Protest March CANT LIVE LIKE THAT NO MORE! the Charter97
press-center ran on its site an on-line conference with a Protest March organizer
Yuri Khaschevatsky. The famous filmmaker, laureate of the Berlin cinema festival
award, prize-winner of the Russian Sakharovs Union of writers award and winner
of the grand-prix of the Human Rights Watch cinema festival in New York, answered
within 3 hours more than 70 questions. Read the full transcript of the on-line
conference HERE.
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BELARUS TO MARK FREEDOM DAY ON MARCH 24
The national organizing committee for celebrating the Freedom Day held a press-conference,
commemorating the 84th anniversary of the Belarusian National Republic. Remarkably,
the event attracted popular Belarusian musicians: Lyavon Volsky (NRM bands leader),
Vyacheslav Koren (ULIS), singer Dmitry Sidorovich. We do care what type of flag
or anthem we have and what future lies ahead of us. That is why we will be in
the Yanka Kupala park on March 24,  said Vyacheslav Koren.
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BAJ PETITIONS SHEIMAN OVER REPEATED ZAVADSKYS CASE CONSIDERATION
The board of the Belarusian Association of Journalists appealed to the prosecutor
general of Belarus Viktor Sheiman with a statement in which it requires to single
out BAJ member Dmitry Zavadskys disappearance case into a separate procedure
and hold additional investigation in order to establish the truth. Association
members believe that the court, having accused Ignatovichs group of kidnapping
the report, sought to hide the real organizers of the crime.
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JUSTICE MINISTRY REPRIMANDS NARODNAYA GROMADA
The party is held responsible for the alleged disparity between the look of its
official stamp and letterheads and that of the approved sample. Under the Law
on political parties, two reprimands received within one year may result in the
partys shutdown.
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BARTER PRESENTS PROBLEM FOR MOGILEV INDUSTRIALISTS
High percentage of barter operations among all foreign trade transactions this
year remains one of the most acute problems, encountered by the Mogilev regions
economy. Last year the region councils leadership ordered the manufacturers
to reduce the volumes of barter operations to 30%. And although its share over
the year curtailed by 15,7%, it still remains on the 36,9% level.
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CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
March 20, 2002
read the details at www.charter97.org/e/index.phtml