4,000 PARTICIPATE IN CHERNOBYL MARCH, OPPOSITION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 000459

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL BO
SUBJECT: 4,000 PARTICIPATE IN CHERNOBYL MARCH, OPPOSITION
LEADERS ARRESTED

REF: MINSK 442


1. (U) Summary: Approximately 4,000 people participated in
the opposition's annual Chernobyl march that took place at
the National Academy of Sciences in Minsk. Before the
demonstration began, however, authorities arrested several
opposition activists, including United Civic Party leader
Anatoly Lebedko, preventing them from attending the event.
Although authorities sanctioned the rally, police afterwards
arrested Ten Plus Coalition presidential candidate Aleksandr
Milinkevich, leader of the Belarusian Popular Front Vintsuk
Vyachorka, trade union leader Aleksandr Bukhvostov, and
leader of the Belarusian Communist Party Sergey Kalyakin for
organizing a separate unsanctioned demonstration.
Milinkevich, Vyachorka, and Bukhvostov were sentenced to 15
days and Kalyakin was sentenced to 14 days in jail. End
Summary.

Activists Prevented From Participating
--------------


2. (U) The Belarusian authorities arrested several opposition
activists before the Chernobyl march presumably in order to
prevent their participation. Youth activists Yevgeny Afnagel
and Aleksei Shidlovsky were arrested on April 26 and held for
10 hours. In Mogilev, members of the Radio Electronic Trade
Union (REP) were detained on the same day before they and an
organized group were to leave for Minsk. In Bobruisk on
April 25, police arrested three activists for alleged use of
obscenities and insubordination to police officers. Jailed
opposition leaders Nikolai Statkevich and Pavel Severinets,
who are serving two-year restricted freedom sentences, were
ordered on April 25 not to leave their house for the next
several days. Opposition leader Andrei Klimov, who is also
serving a restricted freedom sentence in Gomel, was banned
from leaving his barracks on April 25 and April 26.


3. (U) The GOB authorities also made sure undesirable
foreigners did not participate in the demonstration. On
April 26, the Belarusian Embassy denied visas to Lithuanian
MPs who planned to participate in the rally. According to
Delphi informational agency, the MPs applied for the visas
two weeks in advance. On the same day, border guards near
Gomel denied entry to two activists of the Union of Ukrainian
Youth. The two activists were on a bus from Chernihiv to
Gomel and, after explaining the purpose of their visit, were
turned away on the grounds that they did not have enough
money to stay in Belarus.

Lebedko Arrested And Threatened
--------------


4. (U) Leader of the United Civic Party Anatoloy Lebedko
disappeared on April 26 at 14:00. For ten hours his
relatives and colleagues could not locate him. Only after
his release at 24:00 did colleagues learn what happened.
According to Lebedko, plainclothesmen pulled him from his car
after he left the house on April 26. He was beaten,
handcuffed, and stuffed in a vehicle with a jacket covering
his face. Lebedko assumed he was taken to BKGB headquarters,
where he was left handcuffed and blindfolded. Two
unidentified investigators interrogated him for five hours.
They called him a traitor and threatened him with terrorism
charges. They asked about his foreign travel, particularly
to Georgia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, and about his
relationship with the chair of the Georgian Defense and
Security Committee of the Georgian Parliament Givis
Targamadze. After his interrogation, Lebedko was taken to a
field and dropped off. As the masked security officers left,
they told Lebedko he was a smart man and "should
come to the proper conclusion after this situation."

Milinkevich Warned
--------------


5. (U) At 13:00 on April 26, police approached Milinkevich at
his office and summoned him to the Prosecutor's Office. In a
40-minute conversation filmed by security officers, the
deputy prosecutor warned Milinkevich that gathering on
October Square would be considered an unauthorized
demonstration and would result in legal penalties.
Milinkevich said it was his moral duty to go to October
Square to meet with demonstrators regardless of the
punishment, but promised the deputy prosecutor that he would
avoid violence.

No Access To October Square
--------------

MINSK 00000459 002 OF 002




6. (U) The plan sanctioned by the authorities called for a
meeting at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) followed by
a march to Bangalore Square (reftel). However, as the
rally's organizers predicted, approximately 150 demonstrators
tried to gather on October Square at 18:00, but could not
move past the police lines and barricades that had been in
place since 17:00. Ten Plus Coalition presidential candidate
Aleksandr Milinkevich and leader of the Belarusian Popular
Front (BPF) Vintsuk Vyachorka led the demonstrators away from
October Square to the NAS. As they walked, the crowd grew to
approximately 600 people. The police periodically warned
participants that they were holding an illegal demonstration
and would be punished accordingly. Five-ton armored
transport vehicles, filled with security forces, trailed the
march.

Crowd Grows at NAS
--------------


7. (U) Meanwhile at NAS, 300 people had gathered at the steps
at 18:00. Police surrounded the area and walked through the
crowd filming participants. Plainclothesman presence was
minimal compared to past demonstrations and poloffs did not
see OMON riot police buses or troops surrounding the NAS.
(Note: Behind the October theater, located across the street
from NAS, were five small buses filled with regular police
and riot gear.) At 18:30, the crowd grew to over 1,000
people. Red and white national flags and banners appeared
and the rally organizers were setting up a loudspeaker
system. Demonstrators also raised flags depicting Minsk's
city emblem, Ukraine's national flag, and the Ukrainian NGO
Pora's flag and unfurled banners reading "Free Kozulin," "No
To A Police State," "Belarus Has Two Disasters: Chernobyl and
Lukashenko," and "Stop Dictatorship." People chanted "Long
Live Belarus" and "For Freedom."

Opposition Leaders Speak
--------------


8. (U) After demonstrators from October Square arrived at
NAS, the crowd numbered between three and four thousand
people. Prominent activists, including Chernobyl activist
and NAS member Ivan Nikitchenko, leader of the Belarusian
Party of Communists Sergey Kalyakin, BPF leader Vyachorka,
deputy chair of the United Civic Party Ludmila Gryaznova,
deputy chair of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party
"Hramada" Anatoly Levkovich, trade union leader Aleksandr
Bukhvostov, and leader of Malady Front Dmitry Dashkevich
addressed the crowd. Milinkevich's campaign slogan "Freedom,
Truth, Justice" became the demonstration's theme.
Milinkevich, the final speaker, predicted Lukashenko's regime
would collapse in two years and told the audience it was
their duty to "wake people up" and convey the truth.

The March to Bangalore
--------------


9. (U) At approximately 20:00, Milinkevich led the
demonstrators along Surganova Street to Bangalore Square.
During the hour-long walk, police on loudspeakers warned
demonstrators to use the sidewalk, cross the street only on
green lights, and stay within the confines of the
cross-walks. By 21:00, the 4,000 demonstrators reached the
Chernobyl church on Bangalore Square. The crowd dispersed
shortly after 22:00.

Vyachorka, Kalyakin, Bukhvostov, and Milinkevich Arrested
-------------- --------------


10. (U) Human rights lawyer Vladimir Labkovich told Poloff on
April 27 that 13-15 people were arrested after the
demonstration dispersed. At around 22:00, security services
arrested BPF leader Vyachorka on a side street near Bangalore
Square and on April 27, a court sentenced Vyachorka to 15
days in jail for organizing an unsanctioned demonstration.
That same day OMON riot police arrested Milinkevich,
Kalyakin, and Bukhvostov for the same charges. Milinkevich
and Bukhvostov were sentenced to 15 days in jail and Kalyakin
was sentenced to 14 days in jail.
Krol