The United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights

The UN Commission on Human Rights expressed concern about the human rights situation in Belarus at its 54th session in Geneva. Resolution 2003/14, adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights on 17 April, expressed deep concern about a number of issues, including "credible sources — implicating senior government officials of the Government of Belarus in the forced disappearance and/or summary execution of three political opponents of the incumbent authorities and of a journalist" and reports of arbitrary arrest and detention. It also expressed deep concern about persistent reports of harassment of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), opposition political parties and individuals engaged in opposition activities and the independent media. The UN Commission urged Belarus to address these concerns by investigating fully and impartially all cases of forced "disappearance", summary execution and torture (see below) and by bringing the actions of the police into conformity with Belarus’ international human rights obligations. It also urged Belarus to establish the independence of the judiciary and end impunity, release journalists and other individuals imprisoned for politically motivated reasons, and cease the harassment of NGOs and political parties.

"Disappearances"

In the face of widespread international criticism that Belarus has failed to investigate the "disappearances" of three opposition figures and a journalist the Belarusian authorities took the unprecedented step of discontinuing criminal investigations into all four cases (See AI Index: EUR 49/013/2002). On 22 January the relatives of Yury Zakharenko, Viktor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky were informed of the decision by officials heading the investigation into the "disappearances". No reason was reportedly given for the decision. A delegation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly Working Group, which visited Minsk from 5 to 7 February, stated that it was "unhappy to learn that the investigations into the cases of disappeared politicians have been suspended". Similarly, on 27 February Svetlana Zavadskaya, the wife of the missing journalist, Dmitry Zavadsky, learned that the investigation into her husband’s "disappearance" had been terminated, reportedly on the basis that the authorities "had been unable to locate him". The families of the men immediately appealed against the decisions, albeit unsuccessfully by the end of June.

Press freedom

During its January part-session the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation 1589 (2003) Freedom of expression in the media in Europe. Belarus featured repeatedly in Recommendation 1589 as an example of a country where press freedom is frequently violated. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has repeatedly expressed concern about this and other human rights related issues in the country (see AI Index: EUR 01/002/2003).

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe expressed concern about various forms of legal harassment, such as defamation suits or disproportionately high fines which "bring media outlets to the brink of extinction". Belarus was among several countries cited by the Parliamentary Assembly as examples where such practices exist. It urged member states to stop immediately all forms of legal and economic harassment of dissenting media, a problem which assumed disturbing proportions in Belarus in the first half of 2003 and resulted in the closure of several independent newspapers.

One of Belarus’ largest regional independent weekly newspapers, Novaya Gazeta Smorgoni, located in the western Belarusian town of Smorgon, was forced to close on 3 February after Grodno Regional Economic Court suspended for three months the business license of its owner, Romuald Ulan. The latter had reportedly been summoned to court in late December 2002 after local government officials had filed complaints against him for violating various tax, fire and employment regulations. The newspaper, which had been critical of local government, had in the past reportedly experienced other forms of harassment from local officialdom. By the end of June Romuald Ulan’s right to engage in economic activities had not been reinstated.

The system of official warnings, administered by the Ministry of Information and issued for the most spurious of reasons, was also regularly employed in the period under review to keep in check Belarus’ independent press. It was reported that the satirical weekly newspaper Navinki received two official warnings from the Ministry of Information on 21 and 22 May and was thereafter suspended for a three-month period. One of the warnings was reportedly issued after the newspaper had printed a caricature of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka earlier in the year. The editor of Navinki, Pavel Kanavalchyk, was fined the equivalent of US$700 by Moskovsky District Court in Minsk on 20 May for publishing the offending caricature.

One of the highest profile newspapers forced to close by the authorities was the Minsk-based Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta. On 29 May Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta and its monthly supplement, Dlya Sluzebnogo Polzovania, were forced to close for three months after receiving three warnings from the authorities for alleged violations of the press law. The newspapers were alleged to have slandered President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and have reportedly commented on the ongoing trials of several businessmen in a series of articles. The OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media requested urgent clarification for the closure of the newspapers on 30 May, stating "... no special protection should be afforded to public officials, including the president ... Conversely, public officials should learn to exercise a greater level of tolerance to criticism, including from the media, than ordinary citizens."

In early June Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta successfully appeared under the mastheads of the newspapers Ekho and Salidarnasts, albeit only for two issues until the authorities stopped the newspapers going to print. As a result Ekho was suspended by the authorities for three months, while the director of the Chyrvonaya Zorka publishing house, which had printed the newspapers, was dismissed from his post. Disturbingly, a fifth independent newspaper, Predprini-matelskaya Gazeta, received a second official warning from the Ministry of Information in late June and was suspended for three months after reportedly printing an article about the dismissal of the director of the Chyrvonaya Zorka publishing house, Vladimir Tselesh.

Prisoners of conscience

On 4 March a court in Asipovichy ruled that convicted Pagonia editor Nikolai Markevich could return to his home town of Grodno, located on Belarus’ western border with Poland. He had approximately one year remaining of an 18-month sentence of "restricted freedom". The ruling was made on the condition that Nikolai Markevich pays 15 per cent of his income to the state. Similarly, on 21 March a court in Zhlobin ruled that Pagonia staff writer Pavel Mozheiko also be allowed to return to Grodno. He had served approximately six months of a 12-month sentence of "restricted freedom". Both men had been convicted by a court in Grodno of slandering President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in June 2002 (see AI Index: EUR 01/002/2003).

At the end of June a third journalist, editor of the newspaper Rabochy Viktor Ivashkevich, remained in detention in Baranavichy, 140km south-west of the capital Minsk. He was sentenced in September 2002 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 in 2001. Earlier in June 2003, however, his two-year sentence of "restricted freedom" was reduced by one year, bringing forward the date of his release to 16 December 2003.

Recommendation 1589 (2003) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe urged the release of all three men (see above). It stated that it was "unacceptable in a democracy that journalists be sent to prison for their work" and urged Belarus to "free all journalists imprisoned for their legitimate professional work and to abolish legislation that makes journalistic freedom of expression subject to criminal prosecution". Belarus’ human rights community has repeatedly called for the removal of the relevant articles from the Belarusian Criminal Code which criminalize libel and insult.

Detention of protestors

The Belarusian authorities continued to resort to repressive measures to stifle peaceful protest and numerous people were deprived of their liberty solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. In January and February detentions occurred sporadically in Minsk and Belarus’ regions resulting in peaceful protestors serving prison sentences of between two and 10 days for participating in unsanctioned meetings and demonstrations.

The month of March, however, saw a concerted large-scale clamp-down by the Belarusian authorities on peaceful protest. The year's first large-scale protest action, "People's March: For Better Life", took place in Minsk on 12 March and resulted in a wave of arrests. The organizers of the demonstration - former Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Sannikov, Charter-97 human rights activists Ludmila Gryaznova and Dmitry Bondarenko, and small business leader Leonid Malakhov - were subsequently sentenced to 15 days' imprisonment later the same day. A fifth person, Valery Levanevsky, was convicted and sentenced to 15 days’ imprisonment for his participation in the protest action on 2 April. Vice-Chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front, Yury Khadyka, also served a 15-day prison sentence in mid-June for his role in the demonstration. Amnesty International considered all six protestors to be prisoners of conscience.

At least 50 peaceful protestors were detained in Minsk city centre on 23 March during an unsanctioned demonstration staged to protest against President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government and to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the creation of the first Republic of Belarus. Although a sizeable number of the detainees were released later the same day, 14 demonstrators were reportedly detained overnight at the notoriously bleak Okrestina detention facility in Minsk. On 24 March Leninsky District Court in Minsk sentenced 11 demonstrators to periods of imprisonment between three and 15 days. Another participant received a seven-day sentence on 27 March for his part in the protest action.

On 25 March more peaceful protestors were detained during an unofficial demonstration in Minsk. Sovetsky District Court sentenced eight of the participants to periods of imprisonment of between five and 15 days on 26 March. A significant number of the detainees belonged to the ZUBR youth human rights and pro-democracy movement. The Belarusian human rights organization, Spring-96, calculated that as a result of the demonstrations on 12, 23 and 25 March at least 24 demonstrators had been imprisoned, while six were fined and eight warned.

Death penalty

On 13 May the UN Human Rights Committee announced two rulings on individual complaints of violations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In the cases Bondarenko v. Belarus and Lyashkevich v. Belarus the mothers of two men, who had been executed after being convicted of murder, alleged that their sons had been executed in secret and no information was provided to them on either the time of the executions or on the location of the burial site of their sons. One of the men, Anton Bondarenko, who was executed on 24 July 1999, had been the subject of Amnesty International urgent membership action (see AI Index: POL 10/01/00). The Human Rights Committee ruled that the secrecy surrounding the date of execution and the place of burial, and the refusal to hand over the bodies for burial "had the effect of intimidating or punishing families intentionally leaving them in a state of uncertainty and mental distress" and amounted to inhuman treatment of the families, in violation of Article 7 of the ICCPR.

On 17 April the Chairman of the Belarusian Constitutional Court, Gigory Vasilevich, reportedly stated that Belarus’ population was not yet ready to accept the abolition of the death penalty, even though he personally regarded abolition as inevitable. He was quoted by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting as stating: "Abolition of capital punishment is inevitable. This is underpinned by the country's desire to join the Council of Europe." The latter body has repeatedly informed Belarus that a moratorium on the death penalty is one of several preconditions for the reinstatement of Belarus’ guest status at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.