Baranavichy: Authorities embroider the statistics before the elections

The department of the ideological work of Baranavichy city executive committee spread the material “Belarus on the edge of elections” through Nash Krai newspaper (# 111 of September 18th, 2008).

The article tells what a wonderful life the city has, and how well its industries are developing. The city ideologists reduced the number of unprofitable enterprises from 33 to 23. The officials keep it in secret that that was done at the cost of “merging” unprofitable enterprises with other organizations. As a result, unprofitable enterprises seize to exist. That is what happened with the knitwear manufacture which was “merged” with the cotton association. In fact, the enterprise was simply liquidated. The ideologists fail to say how many factories and plants work just to fill the “stocks”, which cannot sell monthly amounts of goods.

Talking about construction of the ice palace, the ideologists do not say that other cultural institutions are empty. Talking about small growth of natality in the city, the authorities “forget” to mention that the villages are dying out.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections