The Information Channel Felist.Com -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE January 22, 2003 www.charter97.org --------------------------------------------------------- CHECHEN-BELARUSIAN TRANSIT 15:28 22/01/2003, Viktor Demidov, "Stringer" Those, who organize transportation of the Chechen guerillas to the West, believe that the easiest way to get them there is through Belarus.A week after the terrorist act in the Dubrovka theatrical complex in Moscow, there occurred an incident in the Belarusian border town Brest. A few hundred Chechen nationals mostly women and children were put off a train without any explanations provided. By the way, this was done by the Polish rather than Belarusian customs officers. Belarusians let the Chechens cross the border without a hitch, for they need not such people at their side. Anyway, the Chechens were returned back to Brest and they settled down in the expectation hall of the Brest railway station. As they later confessed to the Belarusian TV correspondents, now they would try their best at the Belarusian-Lithuanian border. http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/transit --------------------------------------------------------- CRIMINAL ACTION ON ABDUCTIONS OF GONCHAR, KRASOVSKY OVER 11:20 22/01/2003 There have been halted criminal lawsuit on the involuntary disappearance of deputy chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet Viktor Gonchar and businessman Anatoly Krasovsky. Irina Krasovskaya was told this by the head of the investigation group Vladimir Chumachenko. http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/gonchar --------------------------------------------------------- ARTICLE-19 UPHOLDS "MESTNOYE VREMYA" 16:11 22/01/2003 ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression, appealed to Alexander Lukashenko raising concerns at the news that the Minsk-based independent newspaper Mestnoye Vremya has been unable to resume activities since its licence was revoked last year. http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/article --------------------------------------------------------- ANDREI SANNIKOV ANSWERS RADIO RATSYA LISTENERS" QUESTIONS 12:46 22/01/2003 Every Thursday Radio Ratsya invites VIP-persons, who answer in an interactive on-line regime the questions, posed to them both by the radio correspondents and ordinary listeners. Questions and answers further get published at Radio Ratsya"s site. The next honorary guest in the studio of the rubric "Chisty Chetverg" will be Andrei Sannikov - former deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, international coordinator of the Charter"97 civil initiative. You may send you questions to rac@user.unibel.by - Pytanne Sannikavu. http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/sannikov --------------------------------------------------------- COLONEL PROLESKOVSKY: NOBODY APPOINTED ME A JOURNALIST 12:43 22/01/2003 In the end of last year they replaced the head of the country"s leading news agency. The post of the BELTA director general was taken over by the high-ranking officer from the presidential Security service colonel Oleg Proleskovsky. The man used to be in charge of press at his previous job. The newly appointed (personally by Lukashenko) BELTA director, sincerely ponders that "journalistic materials must be viewed as a means of social consensus, values and consolidation of the Belarusian society". He told this in his interview to the newspaper "7 Days", most exciting extracts of which you may find below. http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/belta --------------------------------------------------------- US CALLS ON BELARUS TO ALLOW INDEPENDENT VOICES 11:38 22/01/2003 Deputy Chief of US Mission to the OSCE Permanent Council Douglas Davidson in his January 16 address to the organization mentioned Belarus, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan as the CIS countries, where human rights are massively violated. In particular, when speaking of Belarus, Mr.Davidson said the following: http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/usa --------------------------------------------------------- PROFESSOR YURI BANDAZHEVSKY"S CONDITION DETERIORATES 11:33 22/01/2003 Ahead of a trip to Paris upon invitation of the international human rights organization "Amnesty International" Galina Bandazhevskaya had a brief date with her incarcerated husband. http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/bond --------------------------------------------------------- FRANCE, SWITZERLAND TO HOST ACTIONS OF SOLIDARITY WITH BANDAZHEVSKY 11:31 22/01/2003 This week will see the actions of solidarity with the Belarusian scholar Yuri Bandazhevsky in France and Switzerland. They will be run by the western colleagues of the Gomel professor along with the activists from the international human rights organization "Amnesty International". Next month Basel will host a special medical symposium, where Yuri Bandazhevsky will be named an honored participant. http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/france --------------------------------------------------------- ANDRUS KUBILIUS: BELARUS DESPERATELY NEEDS EU MEMBERSHIP 11:29 22/01/2003 "The only chance for Belarus to get out of the swamp is to become candidate for the EU accession," assumes Andrus Kubilius, Lithuanian Sojm"s deputy, leader of the conservative parliamentary faction, former Lithuanian Prime Minister (1997-1999). http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/eu --------------------------------------------------------- LUKASHENKO TO START RELATIONS WITH WEST ANEW 11:25 22/01/2003, Alexander Rar, "Die Welt", (Germany) West, in its NATO and EU enlargement eastwards, must pay greater attention to the Republic of Belarus, for the collapse of Alexander Lukashenko"s regime might be well around the corner. Belarus still dwells under the despotic yoke of dictatorship. The Council of Europe even notes the deterioration of human rights situation in this former Soviet republic. Lukashenko"s economic model, targeted at the conservation of Soviet socialism, suffered a crushing defeat. The situation is worsened by the country"s international isolation. http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/22/zero --------------------------------------------------------- CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE January 22, 2003 www.charter97.org -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: http://felist.com/member/unsub?grp=media.charter97 http://felist.com/ mailto:ask@felist.com