Amnesty International Report 2003 - Belarus
- Document source:
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Date:
28 May 2003
Covering events from January - December 2002
REPUBLIC OF BELARUS
Head of state: Alyaksandr Lukashenka
Head of government: Gennady Novitsky
Death penalty: retentionist
International Criminal Court: not signed
Several high-profile "disappearances" remained unresolved. Freedom of expression came under considerable pressure as several journalists were convicted of criminal libel and imprisoned. Human rights defenders faced continued harassment and intimidation. Several hundred people were detained for their peaceful opposition activities, some of whom were subsequently sentenced to prison terms. There were persisting reports of the ill-treatment of detainees, sometimes amounting to torture. Belarus remained the last country in Europe to execute prisoners sentenced to death.
Background
Violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the lack of pluralist democracy continued to blight Belarus' relations with the international community, leading to its further isolation. In late September the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe rebuffed any notion that Belarus' special guest status in the Assembly would be restored. Resolution 1306 stated: "At present, Belarus shows severe democratic deficits and it does not yet meet the Council of Europe's relevant standards. The electoral process is imperfect, human rights violations continue, civil society remains embryonic, the independence of the judiciary is doubtful, local government is underdeveloped and, last but not least, Parliament has limited powers."
'Disappearances'
The authorities failed to determine the fate of leading opposition figures Yury Zakharenko and Viktor Gonchar, as well as businessman Anatoly Krasovsky and journalist Dmitry Zavadsky, who "disappeared" in 1999 and 2000. International criticism of this failure persisted in 2002. In September the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that it was "seriously concerned about the lack of progress" and established an investigative sub-committee to probe into the "disappearances".
- On 14 March Minsk Regional Court convicted four men of crimes including the July 2000 "disappearance" of the Russian Public Television cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky, even though the journalist's body was never recovered and the circumstances surrounding his presumed death were not explained. The defendants, two of whom were former members of the Almaz special police unit, were sentenced to long prison terms. Human rights monitors regarded the trial and convictions as flawed. The trial took place behind closed doors and failed to address a series of allegations implicating senior state officials in Belarus' spate of "disappearances".
Press freedom came under intensified state pressure in 2002, as the authorities used criminal libel laws to curb the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression. Journalists convicted of libel faced imprisonment of up to five years. Three journalists convicted of criminal libel were prisoners of conscience. They were held in guarded barracks far from Minsk and subjected to forced labour for the duration of their sentences. Several other trials were still pending at the end of 2002.
- On 24 June Leninsky District Court in Grodno convicted Nikolai Markevich, editor of the independent newspaper Pagonia, and staff writer Pavel Mozheiko of libelling President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The two were sentenced to two and a half and two years respectively of "restricted freedom", reduced by one year in August. The journalists had raised widely held concerns about the alleged involvement of the presidential administration in several "disappearances" in an unpublished article in Pagonia in the run-up to presidential elections in September 2001.
- On 16 September the editor of the independent newspaper Rabochy, Viktor Ivashkevich, was sentenced by a court in Minsk to a two-year term of "restricted freedom" after being convicted of slandering the President in a newspaper article in the pre-election period. The offending article accused the administration of corruption.
There were renewed reports of independent journalists and writers being physically attacked by unidentified assailants. The circumstances surrounding the attacks remained unclear and those responsible were not brought to justice.
- In September alone, three journalists and writers were knocked unconscious in separate incidents. The correspondent for the Warsaw-based independent radio station Radio Racija, Gennady Kesner, suffered a serious head wound during an attack on 28 September in Minsk. No valuables were reportedly stolen during the assault.
Human rights defenders were subjected to continued harassment and intimidation. The state-controlled bar association, the Collegium of Advocates, attempted to exert undue influence over the activities of independent lawyers. Like journalists, lawyers were liable to prosecution on grounds of criminal libel.
- On 30 September Minsk Collegium of Advocates informed the prominent human rights lawyer, Vera Stremkovskaya, that it would not permit her to travel abroad. She had recently attended a meeting organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Warsaw, Poland, where she had criticized the Collegium and the pressure it exerted on human rights lawyers.
- On 11 October Leninsky District Court in Minsk convicted lawyer Igor Aksenchik of criminal libel and sentenced him to an 18-month suspended prison sentence. In February, during the closed trial of the men accused of Dmitry Zavadsky's "disappearance", he had publicly named a leading state official widely believed to have been involved. Igor Aksenchik represented Dmitry Zavadsky's mother in the trial. The Collegium of Advocates subsequently expelled him, preventing him from practising as a lawyer.
The authorities increasingly resorted to repressive measures to stifle peaceful protest. Many people were deprived of their liberty solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Between January and April, more than 200 people were detained during anti-government demonstrations and pickets and at least 51 were subsequently imprisoned for between three and 15 days. Detentions continued throughout the year, although on a lesser scale.
- On 5 April police detained 13 journalists in Grodno for staging an unauthorized picket against the impending trial of Pagonia journalists Nikolai Markevich and Pavel Mozheiko. Leninsky District Court subsequently sentenced six of the journalists to between three and 10 days' imprisonment. They were prisoners of conscience.
- On 25 March Andrey Klimov's four-year deprivation of liberty came to an end when he was released from the UZ-15 labour colony in Minsk after serving two thirds of his six-year sentence. Despite his release, he was prohibited from travelling abroad and undertaking certain activities. He had been arrested in February 1998 on apparently false corruption charges.
- Scientist Professor Yury Bandazhevsky remained imprisoned in the Minsk UZ-15 labour colony. He was convicted of bribe-taking in June 2001 and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, although his conviction was widely believed to be related to his criticism of official reaction to the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 1986. In mid-June the conditions of his detention reportedly improved, allowing him to undertake some scientific work. However, his wife Galina Bandazhevskaya, who visited her husband in early September and November, stated that she had witnessed a distinct deterioration in his mental health and believed he was suffering from severe depression.
There were numerous reports of ill-treatment by police officers. In some cases the ill-treatment amounted to torture. Anti-government demonstrators were particularly at risk, usually at the time of arrest. In the absence of prompt, impartial and thorough investigations of complaints, offending police officers were rarely brought to justice.
- Stas Pochobut, a 26-year-old punk-rock musician, was stopped by police officers one night in September while walking home with friends in Grodno. Police officers handcuffed him and placed him in a police vehicle when he asked for their identification. One of the officers allegedly punched him in the face repeatedly. The musician suffered concussion and extensive bruising around his left eye and had to be hospitalized. Despite the injuries and eyewitness statements, the public prosecutor's office in the city failed to charge the police officer.
Belarus remained the last country in Europe to execute prisoners sentenced to death. On 30 May the House of Representatives (the lower house of parliament) rejected abolition of the death penalty after a parliamentary debate. In September the Minister of the Interior confirmed that five people had by then been executed in 2002. He was also reported to have suggested that people sentenced to life imprisonment should be given the right to choose between life imprisonment and the death penalty.
AI country visits
An AI delegate visited Minsk in October in order to take part in a conference and to meet human rights defenders.
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