CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
January 31, 2003
www.charter97.org
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BEYOND ONE'S POWER
16:38 31/01/2003, Aelita Sulzhina, Sovetskaya Belorussiya

Recently we received a letter from 140 residents of the villages Matuty, Starinka
and Komarovichi of Goretsky district, who pose us one question: how can a person
survive on an average pension of 70thsd rubles and salary of 100thsd rubles,
when he needs to pay more than 100thsd a month for apartment's maintenance? And
then there came another upsetting news. On January 15 the Ministry of economy
ruled to raise tariffs on central heating and hot water by 15%. Expectedly this
decision will come into effect as soon as the Justice Ministry registers them
 somewhere in early February. In the near future we will pay for a single-room
apartment 44thsd a month, double  66thsd, three-room  91thsd. And this isn't
a limit, by the way.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/sb

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IRINA KRASOVSKAYA PROPOSED TO PACE COMMISSION TO CONTACT FSB FOR INFO
11:49 31/01/2003, Irina Halip, Radio Svaboda

At the session of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly there was held a meeting of
the special commission for disappearances in Belarus, to which they invited spouses
of the victims: Olga Zakharenko, Ludmila Karpenko, Irina Krasovskaya and also
the former chief of the Minsk confinement center #1 Oleg Alkaev. It was his first
ever floor before the commission.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/pace

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FAREWELL BELARUS!
16:37 31/01/2003, Roman Yakovlevsky, Radio Ratsya

Soon native Belarus will be abandoned by its Foreign Minister Mikhail Khvostov.
According to unofficial information, his candidacy was approved by Alexander
Lukashenko as Belarus plenipotentiary ambassador in Washington, USA.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/poka

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VITAUTAS LANDSBERGIS: IN JANUARY 1991 I RECEIVED PHONE THREATS FROM GENERAL USHOPCHIK
16:19 31/01/2003

Lithuanian Sojm's deputy from social-democrats Nikolai Medvedev and writer Vidmante
Yasukaitite said that the first deputy Defense Minister of Belarus Vladimir Ushopchik
has nothing to do with the bloody massacre at the Vilnius TV tower in January
1991. However, the Lithuanian procuracy general doesn't view these oral statements
as anything worth attention. The leader of the Conservative party of Lithuania
Vitautas Landsbergis has records of phone conversations with Ushopchik dating
back to January 1991, in which the general threatened to use force against the
protesters.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/ushopchik

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EBERHARD HAIKEN APPOINTED NEW OSCE HEAD OF MISSION IN BELARUS
16:17 31/01/2003

New head of the OSCE Bureau for Belarus is ambassador Eberhard Haiken from Germany.
As is written in the official statement, circulated by the OSCE Secretariat in
Vienna, the head of the Bureau was appointed by acting chairman of the Organization
on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), acting head of Dutch Foreign Ministry
Jaap de Hoop Sheffer.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/osce

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OPEN ARMS. FORMER SOVIET WEAPONS POSE A FAR GREATER THREAT THAN IRAQ'S
13:43 31/01/2003, Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian

As George Bush and Tony Blair prepare for war against Iraq with the declared
intention of ridding that country of weapons of mass destruction, a much greater
threat lies elsewhere. UN inspectors are on the ground in Iraq looking for hidden
nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, yet huge quantities are piling up in
Russia, out in the open, without any effective supervision.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/arms

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LEADER OF "GRODNO CHOICE" MOVEMENT GOES ON HUNGER-STRIKE
12:01 31/01/2003

Leader of the "Grodno Choice" movement, painter Dmitry Ivanovsky was sentenced
to 15 days of arrest for participating in the entrepreneurs' protest. On January
28 the Grodno businessmen gathered on the Lenin's square and voted in favor of
the strike, due to be held on February 1. The jury regarded the action as an
unsanctioned meeting and declared that Ivanovsky actively engaged in it. A few
months ago Ivanovsky was sentenced to 10 days of arrest for his part in the previous
protest "Chain of those who care". And so the punishment was the highest now
 15 days. The accused man intends to hold hunger-strike just as back in the
past.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/grodno

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HALF OPPOSITION CANDIDATES FROM MINSK DENIED REGISTRATION
11:59 31/01/2003

January 30 was the last registration date for candidates into the deputies. In
Minsk they examined applications of nominees from 44 electoral constituencies
out of the total 55. For the time being we don't have full data. However, the
tendency, observed two days ago when half opposition members failed to pass registration,
seems to remain alive.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/dep

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LUKASHENKO PLEDGES TO IMPOSE "IRON ORDER"
11:56 31/01/2003

Upon Alexander Lukashenko's command they worked out a complex draft law "On fighting
corruption", which on January 30 became a matter of deliberations at the head
of state's working meeting. Corruption, says Lukashenko, is a horrible evil 
rust, which destroys everything good, created by the society. And so we got to
harshly persecute for it, said Lukashenko. Upon his instructions they intensified
activities of all law-enforcement bodies on finding and eradicating bribery.
The new legal act, deems Lukashenko, must be of warning and preventive character
and therefore thwart illicit activities. However, the strictest of measures must
be applied to those, who are proved implicated in the crimes.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/luka

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PROCURACY STEPS UP ANTI-CORRUPTION STRIFE
11:52 31/01/2003

On January 30 Alexander Lukashenko listened to the report of the Belarusian prosecutor
general Viktor Sheiman who informed the head of state about the rule of law condition
in the country and reported on the outcomes of combating corruption, power abuses,
embezzlements and other similar felonies. Over the period there have been disclosed
18,4% more crimes than in the year 2001. The procuracy alone forwarded to the
court 337 lawsuits on corruption, which by 31% exceeds the 2001 statistics.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2003/01/31/korr
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CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
January 31, 2003
www.charter97.org