Prisoners of conscience

Andrey Klimov, who was arrested on 11 February 1998 on charges relating to his business interests, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment at a hard labour colony with confiscation of property on 17 March, after spending over two years in pre-trial detention (see Belarus: Dissent and Impunity, AI Index: EUR 49/14/00). A representative from AI was present at the Leninsky court in Minsk on 17 March when, amid chaotic scenes, it passed final sentence on the 34-year-old member of the dissolved parliament and political opponent of President Lukashenka. Various international representatives, who were present at the court hearing and had observed the trial, cast considerable doubt on the fairness of the trial and the final court ruling. AI believes that Andrey Klimov has been deliberately targeted by the Belarusian authorities to punish him for his opposition activities and considers him to be a prisoner of conscience.

The trial of the prominent opposition leader and the former Prime Minister, Mikhail Chigir, who was imprisoned for 8 months in 1999 for his opposition activities, commenced at the end of January at Minsk City Court, attracting considerable international and domestic attention. The trial was attended by various representatives from foreign embassies based in Minsk and from the OSCE (see Belarus: Dissent and Impunity, AI Index: EUR 49/14/00). In the course of an unfair trial the court reached its final verdict on 19 May when it found Mikhail Chigir guilty of abuse of power relating to a position he had held as head of a bank before becoming Prime Minister in 1994. The court sentenced him to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, and fined him 200 000 dollars as compensation to the state. Due to the period he had spent in pre-trial detention he did not have to serve the outstanding one-year sentence. The court also barred the 52-year-old former prisoner of conscience from holding political office for a period of five years. As a result, his participation in the planned elections in the years 2000 and 2001 could result in him serving the entire prison sentence. If Mikhail Chigir is convicted and imprisoned in the future for his non-violent political activities AI will consider him to be a prisoner of conscience.

On 19 June Minsk City Court found the leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, Nikolai Statkevich, and a member of the dissolved parliament and opposition activist, Valery Shchukin, guilty of violating public order under Article 186-3 of the Belarusian Criminal Code for their leading roles in organizing two demonstrations in 1999. Both men served periods in administrative detention after the demonstrations and AI considered them to be prisoners of conscience. The court gave them two and one year suspended prison sentences respectively. During the demonstrations on 27 July and 17 October AI received numerous reports of arrests and allegations of police ill-treatment (see AI Index: EUR 01/01/00).

Possible "disappearances" — related protest actions

On 3 March Leninsky Court in Minsk gave three protestors administrative periods of detention of five days each for staging an unofficial picket outside the presidential administration building in support of former Minister of the Interior, Yury Zakharenko, and first deputy chairman of the dissolved parliament, Viktor Gonchar, and his companion Anatoly Krasovsky — all of whom appeared to disappear in 1999. The whereabouts of the three men remains unknown. During the period in prison one of the men, Timothy Dranchuk, was taken to hospital reportedly suffering from concussion after being ill-treated by an official.

Impunity

In May AI expressed concern about the continued intimidation of former prisoner of conscience and victim of police ill-treatment, Alyaksandr Shchurko, who has been seeking to obtain compensation through the Belarusian courts. Forty-year-old Alyaksandr Shchurko, who was detained during last October's pro-democracy Freedom March in Minsk, was reportedly arrested and physically ill-treated along with 10 other people on a police bus during a two-hour journey to a detention centre by police officers from the special police unit, the OMON (see Belarus: Dissent and Impunity, AI Index: EUR 49/14/00). He subsequently spent five days in prison. He is suing the Belarusian authorities for 100, 000 dollars in compensation. On 30 May, Moskovsky Court in Minsk heard his complaint of ill-treatment. AI is informed that no other victim of police ill-treatment has successfully taken a complaint to this stage.

Alyaksandr Shchurko has alleged that as a result of his efforts to secure redress he has been subjected to threats, including anonymous telephone calls instructing him to terminate his complaints. One of the police officers alleged to have ill-treated him reportedly threatened him earlier in May saying that the street in Minsk where he lives is very narrow and he should be careful when he returns home at night. Alyaksandr Shchurko's 20-year-old son, who is studying economics at a state institute, has reportedly began to score very low marks after previously being a very good student. The two human rights organizations involved in Alyaksandr Shchurko's efforts to seek redress have also come under renewed pressure. The offices of the Human Rights Center, which is headed by Alyaksandr Shchurko's lawyer Vera Stremkovskaya, and the legal advice centre Legal Assistance to the Population were both burgled in May, resulting in the loss of valuable equipment and material.

Arbitrary detention and the alleged ill-treatment of demonstrators

AI received numerous reports of arrests during an unsanctioned demonstration in Minsk on 25 March, which coincided with the anniversary of the creation of the first Republic of Belarus in 1918 and to protest against President Lukashenka. During the demonstration between 400 - 500 demonstrators were reportedly detained for several hours by the police, who were patrolling the centre of Minsk in large numbers. While around 200 detainees were reportedly held in a city sports hall, others were held at various police stations and detention centres. Most of the detainees were reportedly released between two and three hours later.

AI has received reports that police officers used significant degrees of force to detain some protestors. A number of people have complained of being knocked to the ground, beaten with truncheons, kicked by police officers and verbally abused. The deputy chairman of the Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front, Yury Belenki, has alleged that he and his companions were attacked by a group of police officers on Yakub Kolas Square in Minsk during which he was reportedly hit in the face with a truncheon, knocked to his feet and repeatedly punched and kicked. He was then arrested and held in detention for three days. The relevant persecutor's office in Minsk has reportedly refused to investigate his allegations of police ill-treatment.

At least 30 journalists covering the demonstration were also deliberately targeted by the Belarusian authorities. This attempt to stem criticism of the intolerance of dissent by the authorities prompted considerable criticism both domestically and abroad. AI also learned of several representatives of domestic human rights organizations who were temporarily detained during the demonstration, such as Tatyana Protsko from the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Oleg Volchek from the legal advice centre Legal Assistance to the Population, Valentin Stepanovich and several of his colleagues from Spring-96.

In the aftermath of the demonstration several of the organizers were detained for several days and some were later given periods of administrative detention. On 30 March the deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front, Vyacheslav Sivchik, received a 10-day prison sentence for his part in organizing the demonstration. The vice chairman of the dissolved parliament, Anatoly Lebedko, was reportedly arrested prior to the demonstration on 25 March and spent two days in detention before being brought before a court on 27 March. His trial was postponed until 4 April when he was acquitted. On 6 April the leader of the Belarusian Popular Front in Grodno, Sergey Malchik, was sentenced to 10 days' administrative detention for his part in organizing a demonstration in the town on 25 March. Numerous other participants received warnings, fines and periods of administrative detention from the courts in early April.

Prison conditions

AI has repeatedly expressed concern about conditions in prisons and pre-trial detention centres which fall well below international minimum standards and amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. On 14 February the chairman of both the Belarusian Social Democratic Party and Belarusian Helsinki Committee in Borisov (60km north-east of Minsk), Alyaksandr Abramovich, was sentenced to 35 days in prison for staging three unsanctioned demonstrations, one of them in protest against the trial of former Prime Minister Mikhail Chigir. After his release on 20 March he reportedly stated that the conditions of his detention were humiliating. The cell was overcrowded and poorly ventilated and prisoners were forced to sleep on wooden benches without blankets and were denied exercise and access to showering facilities and health care. On 22 May Alyaksandr Abramovich was sentenced to a further 15 days' imprisonment for his opposition activities.

Conscientious objection

In March AI expressed concern about the conviction of 21-year-old Valentin Gulai, who as a practising Jehovah's Witness refused to serve in the Belarusian army (see Belarus: Dissent and Impunity AI Index: EUR 49/14/00). Military service is compulsory for all males between the ages of 18 and 27 and lasts 18 months, except for university graduates, who serve 12 months. There is currently no alternative service at present for conscientious objectors to military service. On 23 March Rechitsa regional court gave Valentin Gulai, who had spent the previous month in prison, a suspended 18-month prison sentence for refusing to perform military service, made conditional on the basis that he spends the 18 months working on state construction projects. However, on 26 May the Constitutional Court of Belarus ruled that the constitution guarantees conscientious objectors the right to a civilian alternative to military service and recommended that steps be taken to ensure this right. Subsequently, Gomel Regional Court overturned Valentin Gulai's original sentence reducing it to a one year suspended sentence.