The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for 9 Feb 2008

09.02.2008 Review-Chronicle of Human Rights Violations in Belarus in January 2008

This time the beginning of the year was warmer than usual. The total crackdown of Belarusian authorities on the social and economic spheres of life increased the mood of protest, which resulted in aggravated repressions against the most active protesters. Despite the fact that January events were a planned continuation of the December entrepreneurs’ meeting, authorities were not ready for the decisive attempts of the entrepreneurs to protect their right to work. 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 from January 2008, made many workers of small business redundant. It also 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 authorities yielded no result – witnessing that high-rank officials decided to liquidate individual entrepreneurs as an unnecessary social class. Desperate entrepreneurs had nothing to do but go out in the streets.

09.02.2008 Independent Trade Union Helps Worker to Return His Money

The trade union of radio-electronic industry (REI) managed to get the court abolish a disciplinary punishment to its activist, driver of Brestenerhazberazhenne enterprise Mikhail Zychkou, and return to him the wage he had been deprived of as a result. It happened thanks to the insistence and professionalism of the trade-union’s specialists. They had not only to prove the unlawfulness of the administration’s actions, but also fight with the judicial illiteracy of the judge of Maskouski district court of Brest Mrs. Levanchuk.

09.02.2008 Press Conference of Belarusian Prisoners’ Relatives

Recently a group of relatives of the prisoners who received unfair sentences has held a press conference.

09.02.2008 Public Committee to Protect Siarhei Parsiukevich Is Created

The establishment of the public committee for protection of the activist of For Freedom! movement Siarhei Parsiukevich was announced to independent journalists by the local activist Khrystafor Zhaliapau.

09.02.2008 Protest against Construction of Chemical Plant

Dwellers of village Druzhny (Pukhavichy district, Minsk oblast) collected more than a thousand votes against construction a crop protecting agents factory and sent them to the President’s Administration.

09.02.2008 Homel oblast and Homel City Military Committees Refuse to Suspend Military Service for Zhaleznichenka

Judge of the court of Savetski district of Homel Yury Zhorau suspended execution of the decision of Homel city draft commission concerning calling up for military service for a regular term of Zmitser Zhaleznichenka. Zhaleznichenka was an A-student who had been expelled from university for the second time.