BELARUS WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - JULY 17, 2009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 000244 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON BO SUBJECT: BELARUS WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - JULY 17, 2009 MINSK 00000244 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy Minsk. TABLE OF CONTENTS Civil Society -------------- - Protestant Community Fined (para. 2) - Belarusian Popular Front Youth Member Expelled (para. 3) - Independent Journalists Warned (para. 4) - Jailed Volkovysk Activist Stops Hunger Strike (para. 5) - Human Rights Advocate Heavily Fined (para. 6) - Police Violently Disperse Opposition Demonstrations (para. 7) Domestic Economy -------------- - Medvedev favors separate WTO accession for Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan (para. 8) - Belarus sees slump in its through-May trade in oil and oil products (para. 9) - 2009 privatization virtually stalled (para. 10) Quote of the Week (para. 11) -------------- -------------- Civil Society -------------- ¶2. Protestant Community Fined On July 14, the Baranovichy city court fined Protestant New Generation Church $120 for holding on June 21 an "illegal" prayer service "to break curses and evil spells". Local ideology officials alleged that the service was beyond Church's scope of activities stipulated by its charter. Protestant lawyers opined that the Church did not violate religious laws and said they would appeal the fine. ¶3. Belarusian Popular Front Youth Member Expelled Human rights portals reported on July 13 that Belarusian Popular Front youth group member Pavel Chuduk, a second year student, was expelled from the theological department of the Belarus State University for ostensibly failing to pass two exams in June 2009. Earlier in the year, Chuduk had been in Sweden where he observed the European Parliament elections. Upon his return to Belarus, he was summoned by the department's management and accused of participating in political activities and opposition demonstrations. ¶4. Independent Journalists Warned On July 14, the Minsk City Prosecutor's Office issued warnings to independent journalists Oksana and Aleksandr Kalinin for engaging in "illegal journalist activities". The two were charged with filming footage and making press reports for a Russian TV channel not accredited with the Belarus Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ¶5. Jailed Volkovysk Activist Stops Hunger Strike According to his lawyer, jailed Volkovysk activist Nikolay Avtukhovich stopped his three-month hunger strike on July 16 after losing over 35 kilograms and an increasingly ailing health condition. Lawyer Pavel Sapelko maintained that Avtukhovich's health was "critical" to his successful defense as he was becoming too "weak" to effectively participate in the preparation of his case let alone serve as witness in his own defense. ¶6. Human Rights Advocate Heavily Fined On July 16, the Vitebsk Oblast court fined local human rights advocate Leonid Svetik approximately $11,000 for allegedly inciting religious and ethnic hatred. Svetik was accused of sending out letters threatening various Vitebsk opposition activists on behalf of the unregistered ultranationalist group, Russian National Unity. Svetik dismissed all the charges and linked the heavy fine with his active human rights advocacy. The defense lawyer had outlined numerous violations during preliminary investigations, called the case "a terrible provocation" and stated that they would appeal the fine. ¶7. Police Violently Disperse Opposition Demonstrations On July 16, according to multiple press reports, riot police brutally dispersed numerous opposition demonstrations marking the monthly Day of Solidarity and detained over 60 democratic activists and a journalist across Belarus. "European Belarus" (EB) civil campaign leader Evgeniy Afnagel alleged that law MINSK 00000244 002.2 OF 002 enforcement officers assaulted him and his five associates while they were being transported to a police station. The activists had been demonstrating their support for jailed Volkovysk activists close to the facility where he is being held. Five other EB activists were apprehended for holding a prayer service at the footsteps of a former Bernardine monastery. In separate incidents, police apprehended approximately 20 Young Democrats group members for alleged ID checks in downtown Minsk. Over 15 Malady Front (MF) and other opposition youth activists were detained during a demonstration at the central Oktyabrskaya Square in support of convicted MF member Artyom Dubskiy. Maladaya Belarus group leader Artur Finkevich as well as youth activist Andrey Kim reported that they were beaten at a police station. Moreover, police detained independent correspondent Vadim Zamirovskiy for purportedly using a fraudulent journalist ID. In Vitebsk and Baranovichy, law enforcement officers dispersed and also arrested over a dozen of activists. All of the detained were released without charge later that day. -------------- Domestic Economy -------------- ¶8. Medvedev favors separate WTO accession for Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan According to media reports, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opined July 10 during his stay in Italy's L'Aquila at G8 Summit that joint WTO accession of the members of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan "would be nice but problematic" and suggested individual accession as a simpler and more realistic alternative though based on common standards and stances of the Customs Union members. This marks a complete reversal of Russia and its partners' original policy. In early June, Premiers of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan told reporters of their intention to notify the WTO of the termination of individual accession talks and the intent to replace them with negotiations on behalf of the whole Customs Union. So far, Belarus senior government officials made no official comment in response to Medvedev's statement. ¶9. Belarus sees slump in its through-May trade in oil and oil products According to the data posted on July 13 by the National Statistics Committee, the country's exports of oil and oil products through May fell year-on-year 44.7 and 53 percent, respectively. The decline in imports of the same products was 49 and 17.1 percent. ¶10. 2009 privatization virtually stalled On July 14, Belarus' State Property Committee announced that so far in 2009 only two state enterprises have been transformed from state to open joint-stock companies (JSC),but nevertheless the objective of transforming 208 state-controlled companies, including major heavy-duty trucks producer BelAZ, into JSCs as a precursor to privatization remained the Committee's objective. The second part of the plan is to sell stocks to private owners; however, no procedures have been drafted thus far. Under the Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) for Belarus approved in January and amended in June the IMF expects the GOB to enact "a privatization law that conforms to best practices", and establish "a privatization agency capable of advancing an ambitious privatization agenda". -------------- Quote of the Week -------------- ¶11. Answering a question in an interview to Austria's Die Presse daily about his younger son Nikolai as his potential successor Lukashenka said: "I don't think I will live up to the time when under the Constitution he will be able to run for office. My statement on the successor was just a joke". SCANLAN