Review-Chronicle of Human Rights Violations in Belarus in January 2008

This time the beginning of the year was hotter than usual. The total offence of the Belarusian authorities on the social and economical sphere of social life increased the protest moods, which resulted in the use of harder repressions against the most active protesters. Despite the fact that January events were a planned continuation of the December meeting of entrepreneurs, the authorities were not ready to such decisive protection of the working rights demonstrated by this category of citizens. Presidential decree #760 of 29 December 2006, by which the entrepreneurs were deprived of the right to employ any workers except for three close relatives since January 2008, made many workers of small business redundant. Besides, it affected ordinary citizens – the markets became empty, many stalls were closed, route taxis to markets started driving more rarely, etc. All efforts of the leaders of the entrepreneurs’ movement to establish a dialogue with the authorities gave no result – which witnesses that the high-rank officials decided to liquidate individual entrepreneurs as an unnecessary social class. Desperate entrepreneurs had nothing to do but go out to the streets.

The unauthorized action of entrepreneurs began in the afternoon on 10 January with a meeting in Kastrychnitskaya Square in Minsk. The meeting gathered several thousand people who voiced their demands to the authorities, the main being the abolishment of decree #760. Then the procession of protesters moved to the House of the Parliament, demanding a meeting with the prime-minister Siarhei Sidorski. The demonstrators stopped the traffic along Nezalezhnastsi Avenue and continued procession by the carriage way. At first the action continued without detentions and forced dispersal. It seemed that the authorities did not dare to use violence against the indignant entrepreneurs. On the other hand, on the eve the action the regional leaders of the entrepreneurs’ movement Viktar Kryval and Aliaksandr Tsatsura were detained, and the leader of the campaign For Free Development of Business Viktar Harbachou was blocked in his house in Barysau. In Rechytsa the entrepreneurs’ leader Aleh Shabetnik was arrested for five days and fined, in Minsk the political activist Viachaslau Siuchyk was arrested for 10 days. After the end of the action 27 of its most active participants were arrested, including Anatol Liabedzka and Anatol Shumchanka. Many of them were brutally beaten. The following day Maskouski and Tsentralny district courts of Minsk tried the detainees. 22 persons were sentenced to 15 days of arrest and the 19-year-old student Tatsiana Tsishkevich, who needed medical service and showed to the judge her bloodstained coat, got even more – 20 days of jail.

Later Aliaksandr Naidenka, the vice-chair of the main police department of Minsk, stated that a criminal case had been brought on the fact of mass riot in the capital. The Ministry of Justice sued to the Supreme Court for liquidation of the entrepreneurs’ association Perspective.

On 21 January the entrepreneurs held the second unauthorized action of protest. Before its beginning considerable police forces were brought to the center of the city, busses with riot police were parked in the yards, and policemen in civvies were standing in Kastrychnitskaya Square since 10.30 a.m. The action participants gathered in Kastrychnitskaya Square at 12 o’clock and again moved to the House of the Parliament. However, when the number of demonstrators considerably increased, the police started dispersing them. Riot policemen with baffles and truncheons lined up near the Pedagogical University in Nezalezhnastsi Square. The minister of interior Uladzimir Navumau addressed the meeting participants. He warned them about criminal punishment and gave them 10 minutes to go away before the police would use force. Later a complete clear-up of the square started. A part of the people were pushed away to the pedestrian underground crossing, the others were driven out in the direction of the town hall. By 3.30 p.m. the action was over and information about detentions started coming. On 22 January Tsentralny and Maskouski district courts of Minsk tried the detainees. The main difference was that this time people were fined instead of arrests. 15 persons were fined from 525 000 to 1 750 000 rubles (244 – 488 US dollars), 6 – arrested for 5-15 days. One person was fined 1 225 000 rubles and arrested for 10 days. All of them were judged for ‘violation of the order of holding mass action or picketing (article 23.34 of the Administrative Code).

The international community condemned the repressions and called the Belarusian authorities to take serious measures for democratization and respect to human rights. All European institutions touch the topic of political prisoners in their reports. Again trying to play liberalization before the West, the authorities started releasing political prisoners. Since 18 January parole was granted to Mikalai Autukhovich, Yury Liavonau and a youth leader Zmitser Dashkevich. Even this step was treated with restrained optimism, because the situation stays pretty much the same: some people are released why others take their place. Since November 2007 the vice-editor of the Zgoda newspaper Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou has been kept in the KGB isolator, where usually especially dangerous criminals are kept. He was sentenced to three years of jail for reprinting Prophet Mohammad’s cartoons from a Danish newspaper, which caused a wave of indignation in among different international organizations and diplomatic missions that called the Belarusian authorities to review the verdict and release the journalist.

1. Administrative punishments to participants of peaceful protest actions

On 29 January Salihorsk district court considered the administrative cases against the detained collectors of signatures under two appeals to Minsk city executive committee on behalf of individual entrepreneurs and the citizens who were deprived of social benefits. The court found the vice-chairperson of the liquidated Belarusian Women’s Party Nadzeya Larysa Nasanovich and the activist of the entrepreneurs’ movement Aliaksandr Tsatsura guilty under article 23.34 (violation of the order of holding a mass action or picketing) and sentenced them to 15 days of arrest.

2. Politically motivated criminal cases

On 18 January Minsk city court found Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou, the former vice-editor of the independent newspaper Zgoda, guilty under part 2 of article 130 of the Criminal Code (fomenting racial, national or religious enmity, committed by a duty official with the use of official powers) and sentenced him to three years in high security prison. The criminal case was brought by the Prosecutor’s office in February 2006 for reprinting of Prophet Mohammad’s charges from the Danish newspaper Jullands-Posten. At the same time the Ministry of Justice sued to the Supreme Economic Court for liquidation of the newspaper, and the court satisfied the suit. The criminal case against Zdvizhkou was suspended because the investigation could not find him. In the beginning of January it became known that he had been detained in November 2007 and was kept in custody. At first the trial over Zdvizhkou was open, but then journalists were prohibited to attend the court sittings. Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou appealed against the verdict to the Supreme Court.

Scandalous charges of Prophet Mohammad were reprinted in 143 editions from 56 countries, but only in Belarus a journalist was imprisoned for it.

A criminal case under article 364 (violence or threat of violence towards a policeman) was brought against a youth activist Andrei Kim, participant of the entrepreneurs’ meeting on 21 January. On 22 January the judge of Tsentralny district court of Minsk Tatsiana Pauliuchuk found Kim guilty under two articles of the Administrative Code, as a result of which he was sentenced to 10 days of arrest and fined 1 050 000 rubles (488 US dollars). Having served the arrest term, the activist was taken to Tsentralny district prosecutor’s office of Minsk for interrogation instead of release. The investigation changed custody as restraint to him.

On 24 January Niasvizh court pronounced the verdict on the criminal case against Aliaksandr Kruty. He was found guilty under article 368 of the Criminal Code – public insult of the president. However, the court decided not to punish Kruty because his actions did not present a significant social danger and the criminal case was stopped.

During the investigation Mr. Kruty underwent a forensic expertise, which declared him a paranoid schizophrenic. That’s why instead of punishment the court ruled to send the defendant to a psychiatric hospital, for forced medical treatment. In this case the judge violated the law, because according to part 2 of article 448 of the Criminal Process code the court cannot apply forced treatment in the case the convicts actions present no danger to the society. At present Aliaksandr Kruty is still kept in the investigative isolator.

The criminal case for insult of president Lukashenka was brought against Kruty in May 2003 for distribution of self-produced leaflets where he wrote that the authorities were serving the evil. He lived in Minsk for several years, and was detained in autumn 2007. At first he was kept in the investigative isolator of Zhodzina and then forcedly kept at the republican psychiatric hospital.

On 23 January, two months prior to the end of his prison term, the authorities released from Shklou prison #17 the leader of the Young Front Zmitser Dashkevich. It happened because on 22 January the Supreme court on its own initiative reviewed the criminal case and reduced the punishment from 1,5 years to 1 year. Thus, according to the new court verdict, Dashkevich spent behind bars four spare months. ‘I think that my release is a result of both internal and external pressure. I have no doubts that it is another game with the West, because there is no liberalization in public life. Some people are released while others are imprisoned. Some criminal cases are closed while others are brought. My liberation took place on Gods will and under a high civil pressure,’ pointed Zmitser Dashkevich at his press-conference.

4. Tortures and other cases of violent and inhumane treatment

On 14 January the patients of the Republican tuberculosis hospital in the settlement of Navayelnia (Dziatlava district of Hrodna oblast) declared a hunger-strike of protest against the unbearable conditions in the medical institution. The chief doctor of the hospital Mechyslau Douhan ignored the demands which were presented in their collective letter. The patients complained about cold in the wards, absence of warm water and bad feeding. ‘Showers are turned on twice a week. The wards are very dirty and it wet. The food we are given cannot be consumed. Almost all of us have high temperature. We are ill with tuberculosis and need completely different conditions,’ explained one of the patients, Siarhei Voranau. According to him the hospital is situated in the forest, but the ill aren’t even allowed to go out and buy the necessary goods for their own money.

On 14 January Tatsiana Pauliuchuk, a judge of Tsentralny district court of Minsk, found Siarhei Parsiukevich, the head of the Council of Entrepreneurs of Smalensk Market of Vitsebsk, guilty under article 23.34 of the Administrative Code and sentenced him to 15 days of jail for participation in the meeting of entrepreneurs on 10 January. On the eve of the trial the police detained him right at his working place in Vitsebsk and drove to Minsk. On the eighth day of the arrest term Parsiukevich was violently beaten by one of the guards, who later accused him of assault. After his release Siarhei Parsiukevich registered the beating and applied to Maskouski district prosecutor’s office of Minsk. According to Parsiukevich’s information the prosecutor’s office conducts a check-up on this fact and he has been warned about the possibility of criminal punishment for assault on the policeman. The entrepreneur considers this case a provocation, because he retired from police while being a major and knows well enough how to behave.

4. Liberty of speech and the right to distribute information

In the morning of 10 January many independent internet resources elucidating the public and political events in Belarus were blocked. This time the method of ‘shaping’ was used again. The essence of this method is that a filter is set at the main computer of the state monopolist Beltelecom to artificially slow down the complete download of the specified sides by narrowing the transition channel. As a result the websites can be downloaded, but the process takes tens of minutes. At the same time Maryia Staliarova, a specialist of the group on information and communication at Beltelecom stated: ‘Our organization is an operator of electronic communications and serves to the population. It is not an organ that controls the informational filling of websites.’

On 24 January the chair of the information department of the non-state newspaper Barysauskiya Naviny Anatol Mazgou was not let to the joint sitting of Barysau district executive committee and the district deputy soviet. On 25 January he was also prohibited to attend the parents’ gathering in the Culture Palace of Barysau.

5. Right to association

On 30 January the Supreme Court considered the complaint of representatives of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party (BCD) against the refusal of the Ministry of Justice to register it. According to the co-chairman of the party Aliaksei Shein, the judge completely upheld all pretensions of the Ministry of Justice to the BCD, including the alleged contradictions of its charter to the legislation and the absence of definitions for the notions of ‘adherents of Christian Weltanschauung’, ‘Christian values’ and ‘Christian approaches’. Aliaksei Shein called the judge’s verdict completely predictable and politically motivated. It is witnessed by the fact that earlier the Ministry of Justice registered the public organizations, whose aims, tasks and charter norms are absolutely identical to the documents passed by the BCD, which was proved at the trial. The BCD founders are going to try getting their party registered once again. They will also prepare the constituent assembly of the party that unites the adherents of Christian democracy.

6. Politically motivated firings and expulsion from educational establishments

On 22 January Zmitser Zhaleznichenka, an A-level third year student was repeatedly expelled from the mathematical faculty of Homel State University. The same day the students’ professional committee held a sitting and voted for his expulsion. On 23 January Zhaleznichenka was summonsed to the military enlistment office. Despite the fact that at this time he was receiving medical treatment for hypertension, he was directed to Zhlobin for military service.

On 7 September the vice-chair of Talaka NGO and the regional party structure of the BPF Youth Zmitser Zhaleznichenka was expelled from the university for the first time for ‘systematic violations of the internal regulations of the university’. The university administration qualified as ‘systematic violations…’ that the student distributed tickets for a concert of the Belarusian bards. The student did not put up with the illegal expulsion. He sued the university and won. On 16 January Tsentralny district court of Homel reversed the rector’s order and obliged the university to rehabilitate the student. However, on 17 January Homel military enlistment office called him up to army.

A first-year student Anton Kalinouski was expelled from Minsk State Linguistic University after serving 10 days of jail on false accusation. The university Administration issued two warnings to the student, thus depriving him of the possibility to pass the missed exams. Anton Kalinouski was preventively detained together with Yury Stankevich and Franak Viachorka at the trial over a youth activist Yuliya Siutsova. All detainees were accused of dirty swearing.

7. Freedom of conscience

On 30 January the court of Baranavichy and Baranavichy district fined the New Generation church of the Association of communities of Full Gospel Christians 700 000 rubles (about 325 US dollars) for misuse of the rented land. According to the church’s lawyer Siarhei Lukanin, in 1997 the church purchased a warehouse to use it as a temple. Baranavichy city executive committee refused to give to the church the right to regular use of the peace of land for reconstruction of the building. No explanations were given.

In December 2007 the workers of the land management and land resources department of the executive committee composed an administrative report on misuse of the peace of land and passed it to court. The first court sitting took place on 10 January. Then the judge stopped the case because of lack of evidence confirming the pretensions of Baranavichy city executive committee to the religious community.

8. Secret services

On 23 January a youth activist Maryia Rudakouskaya, student of one of Minsk colleges, was invited to the headmaster’s office, where a KGB agent was waiting for her. He introduced himself as captain Bialotski and asked about her educational trip to Brussels. Maryia refused to speak with him without receiving official summons. Then the KGB agent tried to blackmail her. He reminded her about her participation in the summer camp of democratic youth near Ivatsevichy, for which she had been already tried and said that he had seen her at the meeting of entrepreneurs. ‘He threatened to inform the Ministry of Education and the college administration about my activities and put my further studies in danger’, said Maryia Rudakouskaya.

9. Censorship

The publishing house Mastatskaya Litaratura issued the book ‘Mikola Seliashchuk. Sound of Heavenly Music’, dedicated to the work of the famous Belarusian arties. An oppositional artist Ales Marachkin, chairman of the Pahonia creative association, was deleted from one of the photos.

10. Foreign travel restrictions

At the end of January Aliaksandr Barazenka, student of Polish educational program for Belarusians named after Kastus Kalinouski, was not let abroad. He was informed that he was in the list of persons who were temporary banned to leave Belarus. The Ministry of Education put him on this list for alleged evasion from military service. The border guards refused to let him cross the border even after he showed to them the certificate of the military commission confirming his right to deferment of the military service. It’s worth mentioning that recently Barazenka has served 15 days of arrest for participation in the meeting of entrepreneurs on 10 January.