EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY REPORT - December 20, 2005

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 001524 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON BO SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY REPORT - December 20, 2005 ¶1. The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy Minsk over the past week. -------------- Elections -------------- ¶2. "Ambassador's Residence is Opposition's Meetinghouse" - State TV On December 17, Post held its annual children's holiday party for U.S. Embassy staff at Ambassador's residence. State ONT television channel, however, reported that the gathering was an opposition meeting being held in response to the announcement of the early presidential elections date. ONT claimed that the opposition activists turned to their "sponsors" for advice. ¶3. Police Prevent Meeting with Opposition Candidate On December 14, police in Brest broke up a meeting of the local intelligentsia and the single opposition candidate, Aleksandr Milinkevich. Approximately 20 minutes after the meeting started, police entered the apartment where the "unsanctioned" meeting was being held and threatened to call the riot police unless the 70 participants vacated the premises. ¶4. Criminal Code Amendments Influence Formation of Political Coalition On December 15, pro-Lukashenko MP and presidential hopeful Sergei Gaidukevich canceled plans to hold a congress to establish a political coalition to support him in his bid for presidency. Gaidukevich, the Liberal Democratic Party leader, changed his mind about the congress for fear of punishment under the new amendments to the criminal code, which make it illegal to participate in an unregistered organization. Instead, Gaidukevich will use the proposed name, "Novaya Belarus - Yedinstvo" (New Belarus - Unity),of the political coalition he planned to form as his presidential campaign slogan. ¶5. Communist Youth Supports Opposition Candidate On December 11, the Lenin Communist Youth Union of Belarus (LKSMB) - the successor to the Soviet-era state-run communist youth organization, Komsomol - came out in support of 10+ Coalition candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich. [Note: The LKSMB is the youth component of Sergei Kalyakin's Communist Party of Belarus. Kalyakin is Milinkevich's campaign manager.] LKSMB promised to remain in opposition of the GOB's policies and pledged "every kind of assistance" possible to the Milinkevich campaign. ¶6. Phone Plan Canned Allegedly Due to Association with Single Candidate �0A;On December 13, mobile phone service provider Velcom denied rumors that it canceled the popular cellular phone rate plan "Yediny" (Single) - which offered a single rate on all calls - because of the name's close association with the "single" opposition candidate, Aleksandr Milinkevich. The company said it chose to suspend its promotion of the plan - which it had launched in mid-November - to focus on promotional efforts for the New Year season. -------------- Human Rights -------------- ¶7. Amendments to the Criminal Code Become Law On December 20, press reports indicate that Lukashenko signed the amendments to Belarus' criminal code into law. The amendments introduce severe penalties for activities deemed "revolutionary" and harmful to the public. Under the amendments, participating in street demonstrations, "discrediting" Belarus' image abroad, appealing to foreign nations and international organizations to "act to the detriment of Belarus," and spreading "false" information about Belarus are criminal offenses warranting up to three years in prison. The amendments will take effect on December ¶30. ¶8. Advisor to the Polish PM Denied Entry to Belarus On December 11, Belarusian border guards did not allow advisor to the Polish Prime Minister Michal Dworczyk to enter Belarus. Guards looked through his passport, told him he was not allowed to enter Belarus and suggested he return to Poland. Dworczyk planned to travel to Belarus to meet with allies of Anzhelika Borys, the unrecognized leader of the Union of Belarusian Poles. The other two diplomats traveling with Dworczyk were allowed to enter into MINSK 00001524 002 OF 003 Belarus. ¶9. Polish Journalist Denied Entry to Belarus Twice in Three Days On December 10, Belarusian border guards refused to allow Polish journalist Agnieszka Romaszewska to enter Belarus to open a TVP public television network correspondent bureau in Minsk. On December 13, Romaszewska again attempted to gain entry to Belarus at the Minsk International Airport, but border guards promptly detained her and tried to force her back on the same plane returning to Warsaw despite her valid visa and accreditation from the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was sent home the next day. ¶10. GOB Restricts Travel of UPB Activist On December 12, Grodno authorities returned Union of Belarusian Poles (UBP) activist Andrzej Poczobut's passport with a stamp and a hand written note temporarily barring him from leaving Belarus. Border guards seized his passport on November 19 when he was returning to Belarus from Poland. Poczobut insisted that the GOB's ban will not prevent him from traveling because he will simply travel from Belarus to Europe via Russia as he has done in the past. ¶11. Independent Newspapers Evicted from Premises On December 9, the management of the Pinsk area hotel Sport informed the independent newspaper "Myastsovy Chas (MC)" that its rental contract, which was valid until July 2006, will expire on January 31, 2006. The hotel, which is a member of the Belarusian Defense and Sports Technical Society, did not provide an explanation for the early termination of its contract. MC editor- in-chief Viktor Yarashuk stated that the paper always pays its bills and rent on time and viewed this action as another GOB attempt to smother the independent press. [Note: the state postal monopoly, Belpochta, has refused to include MC on its 2006 subscription catalogue.] Separately, on December 15, the editorial office of independent newspaper "Gazeta Dlya Vas" in the Ivatsevichy district was told that the Ivatsevichy district executive committee plans to break its rental agreement with the paper. The authorities claim that they need the space to prepare for the September 2006 harvest festival. Representatives from the paper claimed that this decision was a politically motivated move. ¶12. Leader of Election Monitoring NGO Partnership Arrested On December 17, police took Partnership director Nikolai Astreiko to a special detention center so that he could serve the remainder of his prison sentence. Astreiko had become ill and was taken to a hospital after serving only four days out of his 15-day prison sentence for holding an unsanctioned meeting to elect a new board of directors for Partnership in October. Astreiko should be released on December 27 or 28. ¶13. Amendments to the Anti-TIP Decree Pass the Lower House On December 13, the lower house of parliament adopted a series of amendments to the March 9 presidential decree on trafficking in persons. The amendments state that any student wishing to study abroad for more than 30 days or work abroad without a direct employment contract must receive permission from the Belarusian Ministry of Education. In addition, the amendments also require all websites soliciting and distributing personal information, including on-line dating websites, to obtain a special operating license. ¶14. Police Raid Muslim Community On December 12, the independent weekly "BDG Delovaya Gazeta" reported that Belarusian law enforcement officials recently raided the homes of local Muslims under the pretext of looking for suspects connected with the Vitebsk bombings. During the searches, the police detained and questioned Muslims and confiscated religious literature. ¶15. NV Contributor's Death His Own Fault On December 15, the Minsk Prosecutor's Office representative Igor Shkatulo told independent news source "Interfax" that the death of independent weekly "Narodnaya Volya's" contributor Vasiley Grodnikov was not a murder but instead "resulted form his own careless actions." Therefore, Shkatulo concluded there was no need to open a criminal investigation. Grodnikov was found dead in his apartment on October 18. Coroner reports indicated that his death was caused by a blow to the head with a blunt object. ¶16. Political Prisoner Banned from Sending Letters to Foreign Embassies and from Attending his Father's Funeral On December 9, prison officials banned political prisoner and MINSK 00001524 003 OF 003 activist Valery Levonevsky from sending letters to foreign embassies. In the past, Levonevsky, who is serving a two-year prison sentence for defaming the president, sent letters to foreign embassies asking for funding for the prison's dilapidated library. Citing internal prison regulations, the prison officials said that individuals may only send letters to foreign embassies of which they are citizens. Levonevsky disagrees with the prison officials' interpretation of the regulation and said he had "read the article, but found no such rules" outlining restrictions on sending letters to embassies. Separately on December 15, the prison officials denied Levonevsky's request to attend his father's funeral despite having filed all the paperwork correctly because they claimed Levonevsky persistently breaks official prison rules. ¶17. Activist Fined for Keeping Opposition Papers On December 14, a Svetlogorsk district court fined Francisak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society activist Vadim Bogdan BYR 300,000 [USD 140] for "violating the procedure of producing and distributing printed matter." Bogdan disagreed with the court's decision because he neither printed nor distributed the bulletins, but simply had them in his apartment. The police found them when they conducted a raid on his house on November 22. -------------- Bilateral Relations -------------- ¶18. Belarus and Iran Are Getting Closer On December 15, Iranian Speaker of Parliament Gholam Ali Haddad Adel met with Speaker of the Belarusian House of Representatives Vladimir Konoplev in Minsk. Adel offered Belarus support in withstanding international pressure. Adel stated that Iran wants "Belarus to be a powerful state and will never put up with attempts by international organizations to put pressure on your state. Rather, we will help counter such attempts." During his visit, Adel also met with First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko and other GOB officials. -------------- Quote of the Week -------------- ¶19. On December 16, after the announcement of the March 19, 2006, presidential elections date, Central Election Committee Chairperson Lidiya Yermoshina outlined restrictions on campaigning for volunteers while collecting nomination signatures: "While initiative groups are collecting signatures from voters, they have the right to present written information about the candidate to the citizens, but not to distribute this information." KROL