Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08VILNIUS318
2008-05-05 04:40:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Vilnius
Cable title:  

EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - May 02, 2008

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM ECON ENRG BO 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VILNIUS 000318 

AMEMBASSY MINSK SENDS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON ENRG BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - May 02, 2008

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VILNIUS 000318

AMEMBASSY MINSK SENDS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON ENRG BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - May 02, 2008


1. The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy
Minsk.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Civil Society
--------------

- Prominent Protestant Pastor Fined (para. 2)
- Police Confiscate Independent Newspaper Print Run (para. 3)
- BKGB Drops Case against Opposition Youth (para. 4)
- Opposition Leader Briefly Detained (para. 5)
- Gomel Opposition Continues To Face Harassment (para. 6)

Domestic Economy
--------------

- Nuke Opponents Labeled "Enemies of the People" (para. 7)

International Trade
--------------

- Lukashenko: Investment Climate to be in Top 30 (para. 8)

Quote of the Week (para. 9)
--------------

--------------
Civil Society
--------------


2. Prominent Protestant Pastor Fined

A Minsk district court fined prominent Protestant Leader and New
Life Church (NLC) pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko BYR 1,400,000 (USD
650) April 25 for organizing a signature campaign to petition
amendments to the 2002 religion law. The judge ruled that campaign
organizers failed to seek approval of draft amendments from the
Justice Ministry and to register the group collecting signatures.
Goncharenko denounced the fine as unjust and maintained that no
legitimate legal tools exist in Belarus to push for change of the
religion laws. NLC lawyer Sergey Lukanin is set to stand trial for
the same offense.


3. Police Confiscate Independent Newspaper Print Run

Police officers confiscated hundreds of copies of independent
newspaper "Vitebskiy Kuryer M" April 25 from opposition activist and
distributor Valery Shchukin in Vitebsk. The officers violently
apprehended Shchukin at a bus stop upon his arrival from Smolensk,
Russia, where the newspaper is printed. He was discharged the next
day and is now facing administrative charges on violating newspaper
distribution procedures.


4. BKGB Drops Case against Opposition Youth

The Gomel BKGB office closed a criminal case against local Malady
Front activist Andrey Tenyuta April 25. Senior investigator Dmitriy
Sedlerov informed Tenyuta in an official letter that the charges of
participating in an unregistered organization were dropped, and that

the BKGB would return a computer and other personal belongings
seized from him in October 2007.


5. Opposition Leader Briefly Detained

The police detained United Civic Party (UCP) leader Anatoliy
Lebedko, three UCP youth activists, and an independent journalist in
downtown Minsk April 29 for passing out copies of the bi-weekly
"Narodnaya Volya." They also prevented Lebedko from delivering the
UCP-prepared "Alternate State of the Nation" Address to Parliament.
The five were transported to a precinct office and released three
hours later without charge.


6. Gomel Opposition Continues To Face Harassment

A Gomel district court sentenced local Belarusian Christian
Democracy activist Sergey Trifonov to 10 days in jail April 28 and
opposition youth Mariya Tulzhenkova to 7 days in jail April 25. The
two were found guilty of participating in an unauthorized March 23
demonstration celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Belarusian
National Republic. The police arrested Trifonov April 25 after he
did not attend an April 23 court hearing.

--------------
Domestic Economy
--------------


7. Nuke Opponents Labeled "Enemies of the People"

VILNIUS 00000318 002 OF 002



While visiting the Gomel region April 26 to pay tribute to the
victims of the Chernobyl disaster, Lukashenko called opponents of
plans to build a nuclear power plant "enemies of people." He
asserted that opponents protest simply to gain political recognition
and are not genuinely concerned about safety. Since neighboring
countries already have nuclear plants, Lukashenko stated such
opposition "makes no sense."

--------------
International Trade
--------------


8. Lukashenko: Investment Climate to be in Top 30

Speaking to Parliament on April 29, Aleksandr Lukashenko announced
his goal to make country's investment climate rank among the world's
top 30. He did not elaborate on timing, but instructed the
government to develop appropriate support mechanisms and reduce red
tape. Lukashenko said he believes Belarus was wise to be cautious
about foreign investment and pointed out that large multinationals
such as Commerzbank and Heineken "line up to" secure his clearance
on investing in Belarus. During a trip to Gomel on April 26,
Lukashenko opined that foreign investors would enter Belarus "no
matter what leadership we have here, because we are in the center of
Europe."

--------------

9. Quote of the Week
--------------

Aleksandr Lukashenko, touching upon succession plans while
commenting on pro-government NGO Belaya Rus:

"They say that this organization was developed for the benefit of
the future president, and that the next president will be my older
son. But I have already said that it's my younger son who will be
president of Belarus."

Moore
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