Amnesty International Report 2000 - Belarus

Head of state: Alyaksandr Lukashenka
Head of government: Sergey Ling
Capital: Minsk
Population: 10.4 million
Official languages: Belarusian, Russian
Death penalty: retentionist

The heightened protest activity by the opposition during 1999 was met by increasingly harsh measures on the part of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government. Prominent figures in the opposition who spoke out against President Lukashenka were imprisoned for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. There were several reports of possible "disappearances" of leading opposition figures. Political opponents of the President and human rights defenders were subjected to harassment and intimidation. The death penalty continued to be imposed on a frequent basis.

Background

During 1999 opposition groups staged a number of peaceful protests against President Lukashenka, questioning the legitimacy of his tenure in office. Several hundred people were arrested during the protests and given short prison sentences or fines. There were numerous allegations of police ill-treatment. In 1996 President Lukashenka held a referendum which led to the dissolution of parliament. This was followed later in the year by a referendum in which he secured a mandate to stay in office until 2001, even though an election was scheduled for 1999. Opposition groups and a significant part of the international community argued that the second referendum was unfair and violated the Constitution and, therefore, that President Lukashenka's presidency expired in July 1999.

In protest against President Lukashenka's refusal to hold fresh elections, the opposition staged a series of high-profile, nationwide events, including unofficial presidential elections in May, in which around four million people reportedly participated, and several large-scale demonstrations in July and October, as well as numerous smaller protest actions, both in and outside Minsk.

Possible 'disappearances'

There was concern about the possible "disappearances" of leading opposition figures. The possible "disappearances" coincided with significant political events in the country and the authorities appeared reluctant to investigate.

• In May the former Minister of the Interior, Yury Zakharenko, apparently "disappeared" in Minsk at the start of the unofficial presidential elections staged by the opposition; his whereabouts remained unknown at the end of the year. Viktor Gonchar – head of the unofficial electoral committee and first deputy chairman of the dissolved parliament – and his companion, Anatoly Krasovsky, apparently "disappeared" in Minsk on 16 September, three days before Viktor Gonchar was due to give an extensive report about the political situation in Belarus under President Lukashenka to members of the dissolved parliament.

Prisoners of conscience

The number of prisoners of conscience increased in 1999. Many leading opposition figures spent time in prison during the year for exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. Hundreds of people were arrested during the various peaceful demonstrations and actions organized by the opposition. The majority of people were given administrative sentences of around 10 days' imprisonment, but some opponents of President Lukashenka were imprisoned for longer periods of time spanning months and even years.

• The leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, Nikolai Statkevich; human rights activist and deputy of the dissolved parliament, Valery Schukin; and the current deputy chairman of the dissolved parliament, Anatoly Lebedko, were arrested following opposition demonstrations during the year and served administrative sentences.
• In March the former Prime Minister, Mikhail Chigir, was imprisoned for his opposition activities; he had intended to stand as a presidential candidate in the unofficial presidential elections scheduled for May. He was charged with financial impropriety relating to a position he held as head of a bank, a charge which he denied. After eight months' imprisonment, he was conditionally released at the end of November and was awaiting trial at the end of the year. Other prisoners of conscience – such as Andrey Klimov and Vladimir Koudinov, who were also imprisoned on charges relating to their businesses – had spent several years in detention.

Persecution of human rights defenders

Several prominent human rights defenders came under increased pressure in 1999 to cease their human rights work. There had been mounting concern in recent years about the intimidation by the authorities of a number of human rights defenders, including lawyers Vera Stremkovskaya, Nadezhda Dudareva and Gary Pogonyailo, who was also vice-president of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee.

• In July Oleg Volchek was charged under Article 201(2) of the Belarusian Criminal Code with "malicious hooliganism". The charges related to his participation in a peaceful protest organized by the opposition during which he was arrested and ill-treated by police officers. Oleg Volchek is the head of the legal advice centre Legal Aid to the Population and head of a non-governmental committee which demanded an independent investigation into the possible "disappearance" of Yury Zakharenko.

Possible prisoners of conscience

The authorities attempted to curb the activities of a number of political activists and journalists. The independent media was the subject of considerable state attention in 1999 and a number of journalists were subjected to intimidation by the authorities. Article 128 of the Belarusian Criminal Code, which deals with defamation of a public official, continued to be used by the authorities to harass and silence outspoken members of the opposition and human rights defenders. Those convicted of charges under this Article can be sentenced to up to five years' imprisonment.

• In July Irina Halip, editor of the independent newspaper Imya, was arrested at the Belarusian headquarters of the Russian television station, ORT, where she had been scheduled to give an interview. She was arrested on the charge that Imya had slandered the Belarusian Prosecutor General, Oleg Bozhelko, in a previous article. Although she was interviewed by the authorities on several occasions after her release, she had not been formally charged by the end of the year.

Prison conditions

Conditions in prisons and pre-trial detention centres fell well below international minimum standards and amounted to cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment. Prisoners were poorly fed, received inadequate medical care and were housed in poorly heated and ventilated conditions in overcrowded cells. Prisoners were often physically ill-treated by prison guards.

• Aleksey Shidlovsky, a former prisoner of conscience released in February after 18 months in detention, alleged that during pre-trial detention in the town of Zhodino he and other detainees were made to leave their cells and stand in painful positions with their arms and legs stretched against a wall. Prison guards kicked them if they moved or fell. Meanwhile guards would fill their cells up with cold water and then force detainees to take off their shoes and socks and empty the cells using cups. He stated that if the cells were not emptied within 20 to 30 minutes, the whole exercise was repeated.

Death penalty

The death penalty continued to be imposed on a frequent basis. In August the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Belarus, Valyantsin Sukala, told a news conference that 29 people had been executed in the first seven months of 1999. There was continued concern about the veil of secrecy surrounding the death penalty. Information about the death penalty is classed as a state secret and even after a prisoner has been executed the relatives are not informed of the date or place of execution.

• In July the mother of Anton Bondarenko, who was under sentence of death and whose appeal had failed, stated that the prison authorities refused to inform her of the exact date when her son would be executed. She had visited the prison where her son was being held on a daily basis for several weeks to see if her son was still alive. On 14 July she and a friend staged a picket near the Presidential Administration building to plead for Anton Bondarenko's sentence to be commuted. She was arrested by police officers and detained for three hours. Her son was executed 10 days later on 24 July.

Non-governmental organizations and the independent press

As a result of a presidential decree issued in January all political parties, trade unions and other non-governmental organizations were forced to re-register with the authorities. Members of the opposition maintained that the decree was a measure designed to silence more critical organizations. A number of non-governmental organizations were refused registration in the process.

Several prominent independent newspapers critical of the government also had their registered status revoked. In other instances, independent newspapers were closed down for alleged tax violations or after losing expensive libel cases for criticizing senior government figures. The harassment of the independent press aroused significant criticism abroad.

AI country reports

• Belarus: Vera Stremkovskaya – The continued persecution of a human rights lawyer (AI Index: EUR 49/005/99)
• Belarus: Torture and ill-treatment of peaceful demonstrators by the police, arbitrary arrests and prisoners of conscience (AI Index: EUR 49/012/99)
• Belarus: Possible prisoners of conscience (AI Index: EUR 49/024/99)
• Belarus: Possible prisoner of conscience – Professor Yury Bandazhevsky (AI Index: EUR 49/027/99)