Review-Chronicle of Human Rights Violations in Belarus in July-August 2010
Socio-political life
during these months was accompanied with escalation of the relations between
Belarus and Russia including oil and informational war. The general situation
of human rights in Belarus remained the same: restriction of freedom of word,
administrative and criminal persecution of the opposition and forced dispersals
of peaceful street actions.
On 29 July the Minsk City Economic Court found the agreement between Tina
Vlati Ltd. and the research and educational institution Movement Forward
legally void, which gave juridical grounds to dissolve the Movement
Forward. On 25 August the cassation instance left the verdict standing. 'We
have always understood that the authorities will take all possible measures to
delegitimize us, make us act on behalf of an 'unregistered organization' and
increase the pressure on us. However, we will make everything possible to
ensure that not a single activist of Speak Truth! is in illegal
conditions even for a day,' stated Uladzimir Niakliayeu, the head of the Movement
Forward, within the limits of which the civil campaign Speak Truth!
existed. Meanwhile, activists of this civil initiative were still vigilantly
watched by the law machinery and their detentions for transportation and
distribution of informational production were a usual practice.
1. Persecution of civil and political activists
On 16 July the Pershamaiski District Court of Minsk found youth activist
Andrei Kim guilty of organizing an unauthorized action dated to the 600th
anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald and sentenced him to pay a minimal fine
(17,500 rubles or about $6), taking into account paragraph 6 of Article 6.5 of
the Code of Administrative Offences (CAO).
On 5 August the Savetski District Court of Minsk punished participants of an
action dated to the 20th anniversary of the Declaration of
Sovereignty of Belarus with administrative fines under Article 17.1 of the CAO,
'disorderly conduct': Mikola Dzemidzenka and Katsiaryna Davydzik were fined
105,000 rubles (about $35), Andrei Kim and Viachaslau Siwchyk – 350,000 rubles
(about $117).
On 24 August the Salihorsk District Court fined Young Front members
Ryhor Astapenia and Andrei Tychyna 700,000 rubles (about $232) for alleged
resistance to the police. The reason was that they intended to hold a contest
of chalk drawings on the asphalt on 27 July to mark the anniversary of the
state sovereignty declaration. Illia and Ivan Shylas were also detained at the
action, but their trial was postponed.
On 25 August the Astravets District Court fined 1,225,000 rubles an activist of
the United Civil Party Mikalai Ulasevich. He was found guilty of
insubordination to fire inspectors. The activist disagrees with the verdict. He
considers it to be a revenge of the authorities for his accusing them in
rigging the local election. In particular, he addressed the appropriate state
agencies with the demand to punish the members of the election commissions who
were responsible for manipulations with the election results.
The previous year Ulasevich also asked the local authorities to register the
district structure of the United Civil Party at his home address. Following the
request, his house was examined by a fire inspector who said that the
organization couldn't be registered there as about 10 norms were violated. According
to Mikalai Ulasevich, fire inspectors kept putting new demands during the
following visits, as a result of which he started writing complaints to their
regional administration and even to the Emergency Minister.
2. Freedom of word and the right to impart information
In the beginning of July, a criminal case was instigated in Vileika concerning
alleged libel in comments at an independent website vialeika.org. One of the users of the website, Mikola Susla, was
summonsed for interrogation. His computer was seized and directed to expertise.
Bear in mind that earlier there had been instigated another criminal case,
concerning libel in comments at the website charter97.org.
On 9 July a courier carrying 297 copies of an independent Krychau newspaper Volny
Horad that was detained by the police at the Krychau bus station. The main
article of the arrested edition was NTV Ruined President Lukashenka's
Reputation, with a commentary by Pavel Sharamet. The courier was soon
released, but the newspapers were seized. The editors of Volny Horad submitted
a written address to the prosecutor and the head of the district police
demanding to return the unlawfully confiscated circulation and draw the guilty
policemen to criminal responsibility. On 27 July the district procuracy
informed the editor of the newspaper Siarhei Niarouny that the newspapers were
directed to linguistic expertise that could last for up to six months.
In July, socio-political private edition Nasha Niva received two
warnings from the Ministry of Information within a week in connection with
articles about Godfather – the documentary about Aliaksandr Lukashenka
that was broadcast on the Russian TV.
In the 22 July warning the ministry accused the newspaper of disseminating
untrue information in the article Godfather Confiscated. 'According to
Article 244 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus, confiscation is a
non-paid seizure of property from an owner as a sanction for a committed crime
or other violation, whereas according to information of the republican
Unitarian enterprise Belsayuzdruk the newspapers were directed for
retail,' emphasized the ministry.
The other warning, dated 26 July, concerns the article BRSM Advertises
Godfather Movie. 'According to information of the Belarusian Republican
Youth Union (BRSM), activists of this association held an action on 6 July that
wasn't aimed at advertisement of the mentioned movie,' reads the warning.
'Correspondingly, the published information doesn't meet the reality and
denigrates the reputation of this legal entity.'
In July the Leninski District Administrative Commission of Hrodna fined Ales
Kirkevich, Deputy Chairperson of the Young Front, 875,000 rubles (about $292) for distributing
printed production within the guidelines of the YF campaign City Is
Ours!. The fine was issued in the absence of the defendant. Kirkevich was
detained on 3 July. Police charged him under Article 21.14, part 2 of the CAV
(violation of the urban maintenance rules) and searched his apartment.
3. Freedom of peaceful assemblies
In July the Minsk City Executive Committee banned the pillow fight dated to the
600th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald without offering any
explanations. The event was initiated by the Historyka association.
Despite the ban, the peaceful action took place near the National Library in
Minsk. Many participants were detained. On 26 July in Homel the police detained
about ten participants of an action dated to the 20th anniversary of
the Declaration of Independence of Belarus, including a representative of the
Human Rights Center Viasna Anatol Paplauny. Detainees were guarded to
the police station where the police discovered 'anti-state information' in the
postcards they carried with them. According to the human rights defender, the
confiscation of the postcards was conducted with many violations. Two hours
before that, civil activist Uladzimir Niapomniashchykh was detained in Homel
for wearing a T-shirt with inscription For Belarus without Lukashenka.
Democratic activists Yury Hlushakou, Vasil Paliakou and Larysa Shchyrakova were
detained in the city at about the same time. The Minsk City Executive Committee
also banned the leaders of political parties and movements to hold the Chain
of Concerned People on 16 August. The aim of the action was to demand an
international investigation into the disappearances of oppositional politicians
Viktar Hanchar and Yury Zakharanka, businessman Anatol Krasouski and journalist
Dzmitry Zavadski. The official reason for the ban was that there were some
defects in the application. However, the authorities said nothing concrete
about these 'defects'.
4. Politically motivated criminal persecution
On 15 July democratic activist and editor of the Boiki Kletsk bulletin,
Siarhei Panamarou, found at the Minsk Region Procuracy that the investigation
of his criminal case had been completed and the case had been passed to court.
The was instigated under Article 369, 'insult of a state official' for a heavy
critique of the authorities in the pages of Boiki Kletsk. The trial of
the criminal case was to have started on 23 August, but Panamarou moved for
Poland and asked for political asylum there. He intends to return to Belarus
only after the change of the political regime.
On 6 August an activist of the Speak Truth! campaign, member of the
Belarusian Union of Writers Mikhail Bashura was detained by the police and put
him in a pre-trial prison in Minsk. On 16 August he was charged under Article
380, part 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code, 'production and use of forged
documents'. Two years ago he was his wife's guarantor when she took a bank
loan, and allegedly provided the bank with a note about his wage where his
income was overestimated. According to the activist, he isn't an accountant and
simply made a mistake in the calculations. The case was investigated by the
Savetski District Police Department of Minsk. On 18 August Bashura was
transferred to the Zhodzina pre-trial prison.
Speak Truth! activists believe that Bashura's arrest is connected with
his civil activism. In particular, he ran for a deputy seat as a representative
of the entrepreneur coalition at the latest local election. Human rights
defenders also see a clear political motivation behind this arrest. The motions
of the detainee for changing the restraint to undertaking not to leave gave no
result.
On 31 August the Minsk City Court turned down the cassation complaint against
the verdict of the Savetski District Court according to which M. Bashura was
left in custody. According to his counsel Tamara Sidarenka, one could hardly
find another person kept in a Belarusian jail on suspicion in violating this
article of the Criminal Code.
5. Freedom of association
On 20 August the Brest Region Justice Department for the tenth time refused to
register the regional civil association Brest Spring. The reason for the
refusal was that the home address of a founder of the association was allegedly
incorrect (the number of the house was wrong). However, according to the
Chairperson of the association, Uladzimir Vialichkin, the information that was
presented by the police department of the Brest City Executive Committee was
wrong and the founder really lived on the specified address. That's why on 25
August human rights defenders addressed the Justice Department of the Brest
Region Executive Committee asking to reverse the aforementioned decision,
register the Brest Spring and oblige the police department of the Brest
Region Executive Committee to correct the mistake in the information about the
address of the founder.
According to a verdict of the Mahiliou Region Economical Court, the Mahiliou
Human Rights Center was obliged to pay 13,658,000 rubles (about $4,550) to the
Leninski district municipal engineering of Mahiliou as debt for office rent.
According to a member of the Mahiliou Human Rights Center Barys Bukhel, the
municipal engineering started counting the debt on 24 April 2008 when the NGO
was deprived of facilities without being informed about it. The organization
continued regularly paying according to the old tariffs for two years. The
municipal engineering applied to court on the initiative of the estate
department of the Mahiliou City Executive Committee. The Mahiliou Human Rights
Center was established in 1998. The organization has been a member of the
commission of the justice department of the Mahiliou Region Executive Committee
on supervision of the region's penitentiary institutions since 2006. The
commission is headed by a member of the human rights center. The organization
actively participates in election campaigns.
6. Freedom of consciousness
On 18 August a mass campaign to protect St.Joseph Church was launched at a
sitting of a civil group created by an unregistered party Belarusian
Christian Democracy. BCD activists intended to collect several thousand
signatures under the demand to return the church to believers in 14 cities of
Belarus. Bear in mind that according to plans of the Minsk City Executive
Committee the church was to be converted into a hotel complex, shops and
leisure entertainment objects. In 2007, the head of the state was passed the
request to return the church to believers, signed by about 30,000 people.
Nevertheless, the repair and conversion works were started in the beginning of
2010.
On 14 August the verdict of the Minsk City Economical Court about the exaction
of 249 million rubles (about $83,000) from the Protestant Church New Life came
into effect. On 29 July the court found the church guilty of polluting its own
territory with oil products. The church also was obliged to pay 8 million
rubles (about $2,667) as a state fee. Church lawyer Siarhei Lukanin stated that
representatives of New Life pleaded innocent and intended to appeal
against the verdict. However, on 8 August the congregation of the believers
voted against it, as it would be necessary to pay a large state fee because of
the enormous sum of the lawsuit.
7. Deportation
In July the Human Rights Center Viasna followed the request of a Spanish
citizen Inmaculada Gonzales and found a 28-year citizen of Cameroon Guy
François Toukam who had been detained in the Minsk airport on 1 July on
suspicion in forgery of the passport. Toukam had come to Belarus to play for
the Norwegian club IOF at a match of
the Cup of European Champions on Futsal in Minsk. We found that the detainee
was kept in the delinquents' isolation center in Akrestsin Street. The
Belarusian services made sure that the Cameroonian passport and the Spanish
residence permit of Toukam weren't forged only in 44 days. The Cameroonian
spent all this time behind bars without legal assistance. On his return home
Toukam spoke about the prison conditions, battery, malnutrition, racist jokes
of cellmates and having to pay $250 for 1.5-month rest in prison where he lost
about 20 kilos. 'There's absolutely no respect for people. Foreigners have no
rights. One can take a shower only once a week, and only in the case one
demands it. I spent 44 days without walks. All my personal belongings were taken
away. There are no beds and everybody sleeps on a wooden berth. Foreigners
aren't kept separately, but have to share cells with tramps and insane people.
There are visibly ill people among prisoners. Some of them spend 7-8 months in
custody and cannot even walk when they are eventually released!'
8. Death penalty
The cassation complaints of death convicts Andrei Burdyka and Aleh Hryshkautsou
were to have been considered by the Supreme Court on 30 July. On 14 May the
both of them had been sentenced to death by the Hrodna Region Court. However,
the consideration of the complaints was postponed to 17 September for unknown
reasons.
