CHARGE MEETS WITH INDICTED PRO-DEMOCRACY YOUTH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 000400 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM BO SUBJECT: CHARGE MEETS WITH INDICTED PRO-DEMOCRACY YOUTH REF: A. MINSK 228 ¶B. MINSK 352 ¶C. MINSK 373 ¶D. 06 MINSK 1144 ¶E. 05 MINSK 601 ¶F. 06 MINSK 1174 Classified By: Charge Jonathan Moore for reason 1.4 (d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Charge met May 15 with three Belarusian opposition youth leaders facing two years in prison for their pro-democracy activities. The activists expressed their gratitude for EUR DAS Kramer's recent visit to Minsk and encouraged the Embassy to continue USG efforts to highlight the plight of Belarusian political prisoners and support religious freedom. They also expressed doubts regarding the veracity of recent GOB overtures on the issue of political prosecutions. End summary. DAS Kramer's Message Received, GOB Intentions Still Unclear -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) On May 15, Charge met with opposition youth organization Malady Front (MF) Acting Chair Dmitriy Fedaruk and Deputy Chairs Boris Goretskiy and Oleg Korban, who, along with four other MF activists, face up to two years in prison for running an unregistered organization (ref A). After reaffirming the USG's moral support for the repressed activists, Charge reiterated EUR DAS David Kramer's recent strong message to GOB Presidential Administration (PA) Deputy Natalya Petkevich in Minsk that called upon the regime to release Belarusian political prisoners and drop politically motivated charges against MF and other pro-democracy activists (ref B). Expressing MF's deepest gratitude for DAS Kramer's efforts, Goretskiy noted that PA representatives had informed their attorney of DAS Kramer's meeting with Petkevich. However, noting that soon thereafter authorities announced the date of the activists' trial (May 30), Goretskiy lamented that regime so far appears unresponsive to DAS Kramer's message. "We Are Not the Only Ones" -------------- ¶3. (C) After Charge pledged that the USG was continuing its efforts on their behalf and that the Embassy would attend their upcoming trial should it take place, Goretskiy thanked the Embassy for its recent visit with MF political prisoner Artur Finkevich and requested that the Embassy continue to demonstrate its support for other imprisoned MF leaders, including Dmitriy Dashkevich and Pavel Severinets (ref C, D, and E). Describing recent MF signature-collection drives on behalf of the Minsk-based Protestant New Life Church (NLC) and foreign clergy and missionaries who face expulsion, he also asked the Embassy to continue showing its support for religious groups that face similar repression by the regime (ref F). He added that MF considers religious freedom to be among the most important issues for Belarus' opposition movement. Who Are the Grown Ups? -------------- ¶4. (C) Turning to opposition politics, Charge asked the youth leaders for their impressions regarding the upcoming democratic congress -- scheduled for May 26-27 -- and the recent regional opposition congresses (septel). Fedaruk responded that his organization's members were deeply troubled by the divisive conflicts among the coalition's "more mature" leaders over issues of leadership and the coalition's organization. He explained that "common Belarusians" do not understand why the opposition has dedicated so much energy to such relatively esoteric issues that should have been settled long ago. He added his regret that MF had been limited in its time and efforts to secure more representation at the congresses and thus more influence over the opposition agenda due to the ongoing GOB criminal cases against him and his deputies. Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) We are very impressed with the young opposition leaders' courage and commitment to the struggle for freedom and democracy in spite of enormous pressure from the regime. Should the GOB press forward with these politically-motivated MINSK 00000400 002 OF 002 prosecutions (which would speak volumes about Petkevich's credibility),we will show our support for the MF leaders by attending their trials and continuing our efforts to visit with their imprisoned pro-democracy compatriots. Moore