The Information Channel Felist.Com -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE January 31, 2003 www.charter97.org --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------- CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE January 31, 2003 www.charter97.org -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: http://felist.com/member/unsub?grp=media.charter97 http://felist.com/ mailto:ask@felist.com