CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
January 13, 2003
www.charter97.org
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THIRD ACT
15:10 13/01/2003, Gennadz Buravkin

In the turmoil, glitter and fuss of the New Year affairs, among the festive populist
congratulations and solemn national toasts one could hardly hear the brief report
about Vladimir Putin's coming to Minsk in late January. Nor did I read any serious
commentaries in this regard by famous politicians, nor brainstorming of outgoing
politicians and opinions of active journalists. Indeed, our newspapers and TV
paid greater attention to the visit of Pavel Borodin and Gennady Seleznev.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/buraukin

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BELARUSIANS AIR FORCE ATTACK FINNISH PASSENGER AIRCRAFT?
11:29 13/01/2003

In 1994 when flying over the territory of Belarus, the pilots of the Finnish
jumbo-jet, en route from Helsinki to the Rodos island, noticed an object in the
sky, resembling a missile. Finland's leasing newspaper "Helsinki sanomat" reports
that the leadership of the "Finnair" company and the State department for air
travels determined not to make the incident public back then. According to the
periodical, aero bus A-3000 was full of passengers and flew 10km above the earth's
surface, when both pilots noticed a fiery rocket before their eyes. The captain
reported to the Belarusian dispatchers about the unidentified object, but only
received a confirmation message, telling that his information was accepted all
right.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/finnair

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YURI BANDEZHEVSKY CHOSEN HONORARY CITIZEN OF CLERMONT-FERRAND
16:50 13/01/2003

Former rector of the Gomel medical university professor Yuri Bandazhevsky, sentenced
by the Belarusian court to eight years of jail, was awarded an honorary title
as the honorary citizen of the French town Clermont-Ferrand for his studies on
the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. This message is contained in the
letter, sent to his family members by the town's mayor Serge Godard. The scholar's
wife and daughter will visit Clermont to be handed in their husband's award.
The visit will be arranged by the French embassy in Belarus.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/fr

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AI COLLECTS SIGNATURES UNDER DEMAND TO INVESTIGATE INTO DISAPPEARANCES IN BELARUS
16:48 13/01/2003

Dutch affiliate of the international human rights organization Amnesty International
allocated on its site an appeal with a demand to find out truth about the destiny
of the missing Belarusian oppositionists  Dmitry Zavadsky, Yuri Zakharenko,
Viktor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/propali

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WEEK OF IRAQI CULTURE IN MINSK
16:47 13/01/2003

In the year 2003 Baghdad will host the "Week of Belarusian culture", while Minsk
 the "Week of Iraqi culture". A concomitant agreement on that, reports "BDG",
has been achieved at the recent meeting of the Belarusian Minister of culture
Leonid Gulyako and the Iraqi ambassador in Minsk Salman Zeidan.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/iraq

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NEW FOREIGN OSCE OFFICIALS TO START WORK ON FEB.3
15:45 13/01/2003

Technical personnel of the OSCE office in Minsk started operation on January
12. The foreign officials of the new OSCE office in Belarus will commence their
activities on February 3, BelaPAN was told by the counselor for the programs
of the Belarusian OSCE bureau Dmitry Aleshkevich.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/osce

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MINISTRY OF INFORMATION ENTITLED WITH MORE AUTHORITY
15:45 13/01/2003

All Belarusian TV and radio stations will have to pass another re-registration
by June 1. The frequencies will be distributed and licenses will be issued by
the Ministry of information, headed by Podgainy, rather than the Ministry of
communications, as was the case previously. The concomitant ruling of the Council
of Ministers was personally signed by Premier Gennady Novitsky on December 30,
2002. The lawyers of the Belarusian Association of journalists fear that the
decision will significantly contract the number of non-state electronic media.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/perereg

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HOW ABOUT MONEY?
11:34 13/01/2003, Ilya Preriev, AiF

Belarusian authorities are preparing a new financial "bomb" for their citizens:
the privatization rules in the country will be reviewed.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/aif

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GERMAN HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATES CALL ON SHEIMAN TO FREE CONVICTED JOURNALISTS
11:33 13/01/2003

"Amnesty International's" German affiliate forwarded to the prosecutor general
of Belarus Viktor Sheiman a letter with a call to urgently release the incarcerated
journalists, sentenced for publishing critical essays about Alexander Lukashenko.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/amnesty

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BLOODY POLICEMEN GET 15 YEARS OF JAIL
11:30 13/01/2003

The Minsk city court sentenced law-enforcers Alexander Bely and Maksim Ostrovlyanchik
to 15 year incarceration. The two policemen used to work at a police station,
where they beat unto death a detainee Nikolai Nagorny. The court found out that
the law-enforcers were beating and harassing the man for six hours and the victim
died from heavy bleeding. Medics revealed numerous broken bones and bruises.
For the first time over the past decade the court ruled such a heavy penalty
for policemen. Up until now they usually passed milder verdicts against murderers
and torturers from police. Usually they would be sued for mere power abuse.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/13/ment
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CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
January 13, 2003
www.charter97.org