CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
January 23, 2003
www.charter97.org
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BELARUS TO INTRODUCE PARALLEL CIRCULATION OF RUSSIAN RUBLE
14:28 23/01/2003, Gazeta.ru

The National Bank of Belarus intends to launch into parallel circulation starting
from July 1, 2003 both Belarusian and Russian rubles (in cashless transfer alone),
said chairman of the bank's board Petr Prokopovich. Still unsolved is the technical
problem. Technical capacity and equipment of the National Bank leave much to
be desired and don't let carry out transactions in both currencies at the same
time.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/rub

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VLADIMIR NAUMOV: POLICE DON'T MEET POPULATION'S BASIC NEEDS
11:33 23/01/2003, BELTA

Today's activities of the Belarusian law-enforcers still fail to meet the real
needs of the population, deems the Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov. He told
the journalists about that in Gomel, where on January 22 he engaged in the session
of the committee of regional police department. Liquidation of this drawback
is one of the fundamental tasks of this police body. And so, the police divisions,
said he, must do everything in their power in order to make their work meet the
demands of the population and government.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/naumov

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CRIMINAL LAWSUIT OVER ZAKHARENKO'S ABDUCTION SUSPENDED
11:22 23/01/2003, Oleg Gruzdilovich, Radio Svaboda

Criminal action on Yuri Zakharenko's disappearance has been terminated just like
the similar case of Viktor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky, report the sources
in the Minsk procuracy. No clear reasons for such a decision are named though.Investigator
of the Minsk procuracy Vladimir Chumachenko called a halt to the investigation
into the former Interior Minister Yuri Zakharenko's case. The investigator declined
to confirm this fact to the "Radio Svaboda" by saying that he has no commentaries
for media. However, he shared this news with the Zakharenko's family lawyer Oleg
Volchek. Now both Chumachenko's rulings are held in the national procuracy. "As
far as the investigator's signature is enough to shut down the case, the procuracy
officials will only formally put an end to it. They will check out the lawfulness
of his decision and pass their final one,"  "Radio Svaboda" was told by the
press-secretary of the country's procuracy Aleksei Taranov.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/zaharenko

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YURI SIVAKOV  NEWLY APPOINTED MINISTER OF SPORT, TOURISM
16:30 23/01/2003

By presidential decree of January 23 56-year old Yuri Sivakov was appointed new
Minister of sport and tourism. He replaced Evgeny Vorsin, who occupied the post
for 3,5 years. On January 30 Vorsin will turn 55. According to BelaPAN, at 10a.m.
Alexander Lukashenko met Sivakov, who will be presented to the Ministry's apparatus
at 5p.m. today.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/sivakov

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BHC CALLS CESSATION OF INVESTIGATION INTO DISAPPEARANCES UNJUSTIFIED
15:57 23/01/2003

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee considers the decision of the Minsk procuracy
detective Vladimir Chumachenko to terminate preliminary investigation into the
disappearance cases of Yuri Zakharenko, Viktor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky
to be absolutely untimely and unjustified.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/bhc

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EUROPE WILL THOROUGHLY WATCH OVER OSCE MISSION'S WORK IN BELARUS
15:54 23/01/2003

The European institutes will be thoroughly watching the work of the new OSCE
mission in Minsk and the fulfillment of democratic transformation standards in
Belarus in the future, said former head of the OSCE Advisory-Monitoring Group
in Belarus Hans-Georg Wieck in an interview to BelaPAN.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/osce

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COURT RECOGNIZES KGB ACTIONS LAWFUL
15:49 23/01/2003

On January 23 the court of the Central district of Minsk recognized unjustified
the lawsuit, filed by the leader of the United Civil party Anatoly Lebedko against
KGB's arbitrariness. Politician, in his turn, demanded to nullify the official
reprimand, passed against him by KGB on November 5, 2002. Its text read that
Lebedko maintained confidential contacts with the foreign surveillance.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/ucpb

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COUNTRY'S LEADING MARKETS IN PRE-STRIKE STATE
15:48 23/01/2003

Individual entrepreneurs announced pre-strike state at the leading markets of
Belarus. Such a decision was passed on January 21 at the general meeting of representatives
of entrepreneurial structures, who organized protest actions in September-October
last year.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/strike

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A FLYS EYE VIEW OF HOW RUSSIA SWATS HUMAN RIGHTS
15:45 23/01/2003, Amy Knight, The Globe And Mail

I am a mukha (fly) on the wall in Vladimir Putins Kremlin office when in walks
the chief of Russias security police, Nikolai Patrushev. They have been buddies
since their days in the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) KGB. No offer of a shot
of Stolichnaya (Mr. Putin is not a big drinker). Straight to the serious stuff.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/russia

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WHO'S BEHIND BEATINGS?
14:33 23/01/2003, Olga Babak, Radio Ratsya

Brutally beaten on January 17 academician Radim Goretsky doesn't doubt that the
attack had been masterminded under the analogous scenario as other assaults on
representatives of the Belarusian intelligentsia. The attack, says the victim,
has been carried out in a similar style as the street beatings of filmmaker Valery
Mazynsky, professor Adam Maldis, politician Aleksei Korol and other representatives
of the Belarusian national elite. Goretsky's neighbors noticed a suspicious vehicle
with a few persons in it, who stood on watch at his house in the Kulman str.
in the evening of January 17 and drove away shortly after the incident. The scholar
is now hospitalized with a brain concussion and severe head trauma in the surgery
department of the 9th Minsk hospital.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/radim

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"KUPALINKA" DIRECTOR GENERAL FILES IN RESIGNATION
14:21 23/01/2003

That's the first outcome of a weekly action of protest of the female workers
of the Soligorsk company "Kupalinka". Director Oleg Garbak said that he intends
to leave Belarus and open knitted goods business in Russia.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/kupalinka

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30% OF BELARUS COMPANIES HAVE WEBSITES
12:08 23/01/2003, Mikhail Doroshevich, www.europemedia.net

Belarusian companies are still slow to see the benefits of the internet to raise
awareness of their business and connect with companies, but e-mail and electronic
accounting systems are well-established.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/buss

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LUKASHENKO'S SPOUSE UNINVITED INTO ELITE FEMALE CLUB
11:31 23/01/2003, Mignews.com.ua

The first lady of Belarus Galina Lukashenko wasn't included into the club of
the wives of the country's top leaders, set up on January 12. Galina Lukashenko
lives in a village and seemingly they simply forgot about her very existence.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/wife

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BELARUS COMES UP 7TH IN WORLD AS TO LANDMINES RESERVES
11:30 23/01/2003

The journalists were told this by the chief of the engineer troops of the military
forces of Belarus Sergei Luchina. The arsenal of the Belarusian army now includes
4,5mln landmines. There are also 3,5mln special cassette mines with liquid explosives,
whose term of validity expired in 1999.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/mina

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IRINA KRASOVSKAYA OFFICIALLY NOTIFIED ABOUT HALT OF INVESTIGATION INTO HER HUSBAND'S
CASE
11:29 23/01/2003

Today the wife of the missing businessman Anatoly Krasovsky, who disappeared
off the street in 1999, received official notification and ruling from the procuracy
of Minsk on the cessation of preliminary investigation on the criminal action,
instituted on the disappearance of Anatoly Krasovsky and Vice-Speaker of the
13th Supreme Soviet Viktor Gonchar, The notification was signed by the senior
investigator of Minsk procuracy Vladimir Chumachenko, responsible for cases of
high importance.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/kras

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PAVEL BORODIN: NO HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES COMMONPLACE IN BELARUS
11:27 23/01/2003, Soyuz-info

"There are no human rights abuses in Belarus. It's a totally democratic country,"
 said Pavel Borodin, answering one of the questions of the on-line press-conference
on the alleged "flagrant human rights violations in the totalitarian Belarus".
"We oftentimes, - said the state secretary: start criticizing Belarus without
even visiting it, yet alone engaging in the work of the union bodies". Pavel
Borodin recommended to the young person to pay visit to Belarus and talk to normal
people there rather than those, whom they pay dollars for carrying anti-Lukashenko's
banners".
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/prava

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ELECTIONS WILL BE ALTERNATIVE IN BIG TOWNS ALONE
11:24 23/01/2003

This conclusion can be drawn from the information, voiced on January 22 by the
chairwoman of the Central Electoral Committee Lydia Ermoshina. In Minsk there
are six candidates for one mandate, while competition for the seats in the regional
councils is significantly lower  two persons per seat. At all other levels,
for the exception of large towns, elections will practically present no alternative.
According to Ermoshina, the average number of nominees for one mandate constitutes
1,1.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/23/local
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CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
January 23, 2003
www.charter97.org