Microsoft: We didn't reveal content data of Belarusians

Microsoft Corporation again explained its stance on cooperation with the Belarusian security agencies.

Our website published an article about cooperation of Microsoft, Skype's owner, with Belarusian security agencies and disclosing data of 35 Belarusian Skype accounts. The company's representatives agreed to give a comment on the issue to charter97.org:

“Please be informed that in accordance with the information in Microsoft's report on requests to Microsoft from law enforcement authorities, Microsoft provides data to law enforcement agencies exclusively on the ground of requests from judicial authorities or equivalent duly executed requests, which Microsoft has all reasons to believe to be valid, and discloses only account information. If Microsoft has no reasonable grounds to believe that the requests are relevant to a criminal investigation, Microsoft does not disclose customer information.

Microsoft's lawyers considered all five requests from judicial agencies of Belarus relating to criminal investigations of, for example, frauds involving stolen credit cards. Please take note that in none of the cases were the data beyond the scope of account information and relating to content of customer communications revealed by Skype.”

We, for our part, would like to remind our readers and representatives of foreign organisations providing services to Belarusians that the Belarusian security services often abuse power and prosecute people on political motives. There is no independent judicial system in Belarus. On “absolutely legal” grounds, Belarusian law enforcers received bank information of Belarusian human rights activists from the law enforcement authorities of Lithuania and Poland that resulted in sentencing Ales Byalyatski, the head of Viasna human rights centre. Skype conversations were used as evidence at the trials over the events of December 19, 2010. Thirteen political prisoners still remain in jails.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Authorities look for replacement to Belarusians

Official Minsk tries to find a replacement to Belarusians, who massively leave the country.

In the near future the parliament will consider a draft law, providing for compensations for foreign specialists. The deficiency of qualified personnel forces Minsk to invite foreign specialists to the country. The authorities are ready to make additional payments, Deutsche Welle reports.

According to the draft law, talented foreign workers and specialists will be provided a compensation of the costs of moving to the country and a one-time payment of settlement allowance, the deputy head of the department for migration and work with foreign citizens of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Siarhei Herasimau told on 26 March. The amounts of the compensations and payments have not yet been announced. The draft law will be considered in the first reading during the spring session of the parliament which starts on 2 April. The authorities already attempted to lure foreigners into the country before. But who would want to work in Belarus?

Where have all the specialists gone?

More than 12 thousand foreign students are studying in Belarus from 88 countries of the world. Their large part came from Turkmenistan (around 6 thousand), China (more than 2 thousand) and Russia (more than a thousand). According to the information of the Education Ministry’s press-secretary Julija Vanina, the representatives of CIS countries, Central, South-East and South-West Asia will dominate among the foreign students in 2013.

If these alumnus want to stay in Belarus and work in their profession, than the draft law mentioned above will liberate them from the necessity to obtain special permissions for practicing labor activities in the country. The only thing is that a former Minister of Labour Aliaksandr Sasnou does not understand who and on what grounds will define the degree of talent of potenatial specialists of foreign origin. Sasnou claims that domestic talented specialists have left the country looking for a better life and decent income. That is why the authorities hope to find professionals where the level of living and salaries are lower than in Belarus. The ex-minister predicts that the main contingent of the specialists willing to be employed in Belarus may come from South-East Asia.

Just recently – on 1 September 2012 – Aliaksandr Lukashenka ordered to decrease the number of students accepted to the institutes of higher education because of excessing, in his opinion, number of specialists of higher education. “The task has been set to get this process regulated within a year. It will be more fair to people – to accept as many students as we need”, - the ruler then said. And now it turns out that there is a strong deficiency of domestic specialists in Belarus. Where have they gone?

No money for professionals

As the head of the analytical center Strategy Leanid Zaika notes, in the country there is a deficiency of good economists, high-class managers for big companies, for example Belaruskali. Doctors, programmers, architects, the representatives of other professions in demand, requiring the high level of proficiency, go abroad because of law salaries. This causes the problem of staging whole sectors of economy.

Let us take, for example, the health care. In 2012 Brest region had its need in medicine workers satisfied by 76%, Mahilou region – 67%, there are districts in the country staffed with doctor by less than 50%. Such a situation is not only in medicine. “Talented specialists have found employment in Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, other countries, where the conditions for their work are by times more attractive than at home”, - Zaika states.

The hunt for good specialists goes on round the whole world. It is quite an expensive pleasure, so for Belarus, limited in finance, it will be much easier to get its own professionals interested in homeland jobs, then attract high-class specialists from abroad, the expert is sure.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Dzmitry Bandarenka: Let Russia pay for Lukashenka

If it had not been for sanctions against Belarus, there would have been several thousands of disappeared and murdered opposition leaders in the country.

A former political prisoner and a European Belarus civic campaign’s coordinator Dzmitry Bandarenka stated that, Belsat TV channel reports.

The director of a human rights organization Freedom House and a former diplomat David Kramer call upon Washington and Brussels to introduce economic sanctions against the Belarusian regime. How tangible is the implementation of the human rights activist’s suggestion?

Dzmitry Bandarenka believes that the leadership of the USA should listen up to David Kramer’s voice, since the human rights activist visited Minsk as an aide to the US Secretary of State and knows the situation with human rights in Belarus. Apart from that David Kramer is a serious actor in American politics and a potential candidate for the head of the US foreign office.

“The Belarusian regime is accused by international community of a number of crimes: kidnappings and murders of political opponents, election fraud and the usurpation of power, tortures and mass repressions against civil society, corruption and weapon and trade on weapons and even drugs. That is why international community must react on such a behavior”, - the former political prisoner noted. Dzmitry Bandarenka emphasized, that Belarus is a serious problem of the whole world, that is why international community must use any methods possible.

According to him, David Kramer was the father of a sensible policy towards the Belarusian dictator, having deranged Chavez and Lukashenka’s oil business.

“The USA together with Canada then really applied economic sanctions against Belarusian Belneftekhim, which are still in force”, - Dzmitry Bandarenka reminded.

According to the coordinator of the European Belarus, David Kramer made the Belarusian regime release the political prisoners Dzmitry Dashkevich, Andrei Klimau, Aliaksandr Kazulin. “It was Kramer’s merit, who knows that talks with Lukashenka’s regime bring nothing, but actions or a threat of sanctions make the regime react”, - Dzmitry Bandarenka noted.

In the opinion of the former political prisoner, the Belarusian regime, like any other dictatorship, only understands the power language.

“If there are Western sanctions, Russia will try to compensate for them. If Russia wants to have its satrap Lukashenka in Belarus – let it pay for this pleasure”, - Belsat’s guest emphasized, adding that Kremlin will not manage to constantly support the dictatorships in Belarus and other countries of former USSR.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Skype give Belarusians away to KGB

Belarusian law enforcers received the information about 35 Skype accounts last year from Microsoft (Skype’s owner).

It is stated in the report Law Enforcement Requests Report, which has been published in the company’s official blog.

Microsoft claims that in 2012 Belarusian special services addressed the company five times with requests on 35 Skype accounts. The company disclosed so-called identifiers, which the requests demanded for. The very chats content and other data, related to the transmitted information, voice and videocalls, were not disclosed.
“We demand for court’s decisions or an equivalent document before we consider the issue of disclosing data, not containing the content and we demand for a court’s decision or an order before be consider disclosing a user’s content”, - they claim at Microsoft.

Belarus is only present in the lists for Skype requests. Belarusian law enforcers did not address Microsoft for user data of other services and applications of the company.
It is worth mentioning that the judiciary is dependent in Belarus and the order can be written by, among others, KGB officials themselves. Belarusian specials services deal with political prosecution, and political and civic activists and journalists often fall victims to Belarusian law enforcers’ criminal activities.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Freedom Day in captivity

The celebration of the Freedom Day in Minsk ended with the arrests of the participants of the opposition manifestation.

Several thousand people gathered to celebrate the 95th anniversary in Minsk on 24 March. Minsk city executive committee only allowed the participants of the Freedom Day procession to gather in the center of the city near the October cinema and traditionally sent the column to Bangalore square – further away from the capital’s main streets.

Despite the frost, absence of a wide information campaign and preventive arrests of oppositionists around 2 thousand people attended the action, according to the organizers’ estimation.

Several civic activists had been arrested on the eve of the action on alleged accusations. There were detentions in the regions too, where people were detained either on the way or right in their apartments before leaving for the capital.

In order to get to the place of the gathering near the October cinema people had to go through radio-metal locator and a search by riot police. Part of the site was fenced with tourniquets. There were policemen with megaphones in metro underpasses. A journalist of Nasha Niva Tatsiana Haurylchyk was arrested (and then released in an hour) for attempting to film them. Police vans were in an intimidating watch by the cinema.

Judging from the banners, not only the 95th anniversary of Belarusian People Republic’s proclamation was the main theme of the action, but also the topic of political prisoners in detention. Many participants of the manifestation had portraits of Dzmitry Dashkevich, Mikalaj Statkevich, Mikalaj Autukhovich, Ales Bialatski, the arrested anarchist activists. There were pictures of the kidnapped and murdered in t Belarus opposition leaders – Viktar Hanchar, Yury Zakharanka, Anatol Krasouski, Henadz Karpenka, a journalist Dzmitry Zavadski.

The city authorities forbad using “unregistered symbolics” at the action. What falls under that definition is only clearly known to policemen, that is why Belarusians came out to celebrate the Freedom Day under the national white-red-white flags. We would remind that the national historic flag of Belarus has been actually forbidden in the country since the referendum of 1995 on the change of the state symbols, initiated by Lukashenka. Flags of the European Belarus and Belarusian Christian Democracy party were also raised during the manifestation.

The duality of the action was also emphasized by the slogans, chanted by the participants: Long live Belarus! and “Freedom to political prisoners!”. One of the novelties of the actions was that the participants sang Lapis Trubiatskoj’s song on the verse of Janka Kupala “Not to be cattle” and launched fireworks.

The meeting in Bangalore square, where representatives of oppositional parties and movements made speeches, was also fenced with tourniquets. In order to get to the meeting people had again to undrgo the humiliating search procedures.

Nevertheless, the organizers give positive assessments to the action.

“More people came than last year. A large number of national flags streamed in the wind, we took an agreed route. I estimate the number of participants at two thousand”, - a coordinator of the European Belarus civic campaign Viktar Ivashkevich told in an interview to charter97.org.

He added that people would continue the celebration at home after the manifestation since the organizers did not manage to rent premises.

“The people, who came to the manifestation, did it consciously. These are active, conscious citizens. And those, who sit at home and follow the manifestation on the internet, should think – it is not late to join us not to regret later. I would emphasize that in the coming days, most likely on Tuesday, there will be a press-conference of the Freedom Day’s organizational committee, at which we will sum up the event and with the final assessment”, - Viktar Ivashkevich concluded.

A well-known human rights activist Valer Shchukin noted, that police did everything they could for as few as possible people gather for the Freedom Day manifestation.

“The authorities allowed to gather before a cinema with a fairly revolutionary name October. Police made a pen, where maximum of 150 people could fit, and also metal detectors were installed there. All the people, who came, could not physically fit in there that is why the majority stood behind the fence. There were busses, a mine clearing car and dozens of cars packed with policemen”, - the human rights activists noted in an interview to charter97.org.

He also emphasized that he did not participate in the procession to Bangalore square.

“The organizers congratulated everyone on the holiday and the column started moving. I left the action at that moment since I do not go to Bangalore on principle. I would add that I liked seeing mothers with their children and also a large number of young boys and girls, who came to celebrate the Freedom Day, who need freedom”, - Valer Shchukin concluded.

A co-chairman of the organizational committee of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party Vital Rymasheuski is also satisfied with the procession and the meeting of the occasion of the Freedom Day, despite the police provocation.

“The site in front of the October cinema was assigned a gathering place, which was covered with ice and had construction works being carried out nearby”, - the politician said.

In an interview to charter97.org he emphasized that despite the threats of punishment for using posters and banners their number was fairly large.

“The number of participants was no less than last year. People brought pictures of the disappeared politicians and also the political prisoners, who were behind bars on that day. Everyone was in a festive mood. I like seeing people, whom a have not seen for long and those who have very recently joined active political participation”, - Vital Rymasheuski summarized.

After the action in Bangalore square the arrests of the procession’s participants started. Groups of young people were detained at bus stops or in the McDonald’s located nearby.

“Journalists led the event’s organizers to the cars so none of us was detained. However an order was given to detain people after the action in a silent way. That is why several groups of young people have already been detained.

I think those are rat methods. In front of journalists I warned one of police high officials that law enforcement agencies will be held responsible for arbitrary detentions. There were no grounds for detentions, that is why I consider this to be a spit in the face of the European Union, which is trying to establish a dialogue with Lukashenka at least in some way. And when the dictator screams that the opposition is to blame for the failure of the relations with the EU, then I would say that those are responsible for that, who unlawfully grab people in street actions, who put people in prisons for political reasons, who is guilty of the disappearances of politicians and of Belarus’ ending up internationally isolated”, - Vital Rymasheuski emphasized.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Per Cromwell: Don't deal with Lukashenka

Swedish pilots call on Europe to suspend all contacts with the Belarusian dictator.
He commented on the decision of the Swedish Prosecution Authority to launch an investigation into the incident of crossing the Lithuanian-Belarusian border by a light plane.

“The Lithuanian authorities clearly want this matter out of their hands.

Our feeling is that this is complex and that they don't know how to handle it,” he said.

Per Cromwell notes he is not afraid of the prosecution.

“The offence is minor, if any. We'll just have to wait and see,” the Studio Total founder said.

He noted the Swedish Prosecution Authority perhaps took the decision only to calm the Belarusian authorities and return its ambassador to Minsk.

“It's possible. Sooner or later there will be Swedish representation in Belarus. We all hope that this will be in a post-Lukashenka world and soon,” Per Cromwell said.

The Studio Total founder spoke about his attitude towards negotiations with the European Union to lift travel restrictions from Belarusian foreign minister Uladzimir Makei in exchange for the return of the Swedish ambassador to Minsk.

“Demanding the release of prisoners is good, they shouldn't have been put in jail in the first place. But dealing with the man who put them there gives him legitimacy. We think everyone should be extremely careful what kind of deals you make with a dictator.

Remembering that if no one dealt with him, he would be gone in no time,” Per Cromwell said.

A light plane piloted by Studio Total members illegally crossed the Belarusian border on the morning of July 4. More than 800 teddy bears with pro-democracy labels were dropped over Ivyanets and Minsk during a 1.5-hour flight. A criminal case was opened, though border guards and army officials denied the border violation.

On July 13, 20-year old photographer Anton Surapin, who was the first to post photos of teddy bears on his website Belarusian News Photos, was detained. Real estate agent Syarhei Basharymau, who deals with short-term rentals, was detained on suspicion that the Swedish pilots might have rented or planned to rent a flat he offered.

On July 31, Lukashenka relieved head of the State Border Committee Ihar Rachkouski Commander of Air and Air Defence Forces General Major Dzmitry Pakhmelkin of their duties for “improper discharge of official duties in ensuring the national security of the Republic of Belarus”.

On August 1, the Belarusian authorities refused to prolong accreditation for Swedish Ambassador Stefan Eriksson that provoked a diplomatic row between Belarus and Sweden. Surapin and Basharymau were released from the KGB jail on their own recognizance on August 17.

In February 2013, a border guard, who didn't report about crossing the border by the Swedish plane on July 4, 2012, was sentenced to 2 years in a medium security penal colony.

It shoud be reminded that the Swedish pilots received Charter'97 National Human Rights Award 2012.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Andrei Sannikov: Paleckis plays dirty game

The leader of European Belarus civil campaign condemns the remarks by a European Parliament member on Minsk's alleged readiness to release political prisoners.

The European Parliament Rapporteur on Belarus is paying a visit to Minsk on March 18-21 to collect information for his report for a plenary sitting of the EP. Justas Paleckis said after meetings with officials that Lukashenka's regime was ready to free the political prisoners.

“It is an attempt to pacify public opinion, first of all, in Europe. It is not clear why Paleckis got involved in this dirty game. We know how pressure on all political prisoners has increased today. I can say with certainty: Everything they have faced can be called torture. The spineless policy of such politicians as Paleckis only intensifies torture,” European Belarus civil campaign leader and former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, who spent 18 months in prison after the Belarusian presidential elections of December 19, 2010, said to charter97.org.

According to Sannikov, he met with European politicians, including those who visited Minsk, and can say they know about the real confinement conditions for political prisoners.

“I was surprised to hear, and this news filled me with disgust, that the authorities even boast they are torturing political prisoners and like to tell their foreign partners about it. The recent attempts of human trafficking with the dictatorship made by European politicians lie beyond morality. The matter is human lives. Without a principled position, their lives are under constant threat,” the politician said.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Where are we unknown yet?

Commentator Aliaksandr KrasnapeutsauBelarus turns out to have absolute safety of private property and clear legislative framework.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka promised Indonesian businessmen attractive conditions in the country and highlighted the advantages of Belarus's participation in the Common Economic Space.

“Favourable and attractive business conditions have been created in the country for investors. We have absolute safety of private property and clear legislative framework,” Lukashenka said Tuesday in Jakarta during the talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Interfax news agency reports.

Lukashenka invited Indonesian businessmen to Belarus and noted that “an additional advantage is the country's participation in the Common Economic Space of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan, where the three states have no customs borders and duties. Setting up companies in Belarus gives the opportunity to enter the huge market of 170 million people.”

Lukashenka stressed that Belarus “gives exclusively favourable conditions to investors ready to open high-tech companies in the industrial park”, a joint Belarusian-Chinese project. “We have no obstacles to implement the most ambitious of our joint projects,” the Belarusian ruler said.

It's worth noting that a law giving the state the right to represent the interests of minority shareholders in companies without the state's stake was adopted a month ago. There was a loud scandal last autumn when a shareholder of Kommunarka and Spartak confectionery factories was deprived of his property.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Belarusian embassy in Prague reminded about killing of Kanavalau and Kavalyou

The Belarusian organisation Association for Modernisation in the Czech Repiblic held an action in Prague against the death penalty in Belarus.

A poster with a photo of executed Uladzislau Kavalyou and Dzmitry Kanavalau and the text “In Belarus at their place can be everybody?!” appeared on the wall of the Belarusian embassy in Prague.

The Association for Modernisation in the Czech Republic demands to impose a moratorium on the death penalty in Belarus.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Sannikov: Belarusians are in the forefront of the fight for European values

Leader of the European Belarus made a statement at the Brussels Forum.

Well-known influential politicians from Europe and the U.S. took part in the International Brussels Forum held in Belgium’s capital on March 15-17. Leader of the civil campaign European Belarus and former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov represented our country.

The politician delivered his speech on March 16, the Day of the Belarusian Solidarity. The text of his speech follows below:

“It's a special and emotional occasion for me to speak here. First of all I would like to use this opportunity to thank you for your support. Two years ago, at this very time I was a prisoner in the KGB jail in Minsk, notorious since the Stalin-times purges. It's still used for the same purpose in dictatorial Belarus. From my lawyer, more from jestures than words, I learnt that Belarus and political prisoners were discussed at the Brussels forum, and that Craig Kennedy asked to convey participants’ support to me, and expressed his hope that soon I’d be able to rejoin you. It was of great importance for me, and it gave me a lot of strength. Thank you once again, and thank you Craig.

One year ago, in the penal colony, I had no access to any information. I was completely isolated. But miraculosely, through prison grapevine I found out that our friends had been talking about me in Brussels, although at that time I had little hope to be released.

And you know what, I was not the only one who hoped for a strong international reaction to what the dictator’s regime had done in Belarus: the violent suppression of the opposition, the repressions that followed. The prisoners hoped that Europe would react accordingly. I know what I’m talking about, because by that time I had been in four prisons and three penal colonies. There is no justice in Belarus. I saw how prisoners hoped for a strong rebuf from Europe and the Euro-Atlantic community, from the democratic world. It was hope that justice will come to Belarus, because Belarus is a part of Europe.

I can only echo the words of Timothy Garton Ash who said that he was speaking as a passionate European. These are not just words, because my presidential campaign was based on the principles of the Belarusian integration to Europe. And it got the people’s support. I can say that the feedback was very active, because we stand for the same values. These values are shared by Europe and the Euro-Atlantic community. In Europe, these values are protected, while in Belarus, the virute is to abuse them. I believe that this is exactly what Tom Stoppard was talking about here two years ago. He tried to warn from treating an abnormal situation as normal, to warn that the solution should not be planned basing on its abnormality.

Today Belarusians are at the forefront of the fight for the values of the European and Euro-Atlantic societies. I try to use every chance to remind about some of these Belarusians who today are prisoners. And today I would like to call their names: Dzmitry Dashkievich, Mikalai Statkievich, Mikalai Autukhovich, Ales Bialiatski, Igar Alinievich, Aliaksandar Frantskievich, Mikalai Dziadok, Eduard Lobau, Yaugen Vaskovich, Artsiom Prakapenka, Aliaksandar Mauchanau, Andrei Gaidukou and Paval Siavieryniets. These people fight for our shared values. I believe that the world is not doing enough to help their release.
When I say that Belarus is a part of Europe, I mean that the dictator is, too, in Europe. And he is rather active here, in the Euro-Atlantic community. Very often he operates effectively in the European context, for example, blackmailing our neighbors, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, with the agreement on border traffick, and demanding political concessions. The world condemns the notorious law that prohibits Americans to adopt Russian children, but few know that Lukashenka blackmails Italy with a similar prohibition.

People from the “black list” have recently started to travel to Europe. There is a lobby in Europe that is ready to serve Lukashenka, to act as his PR-agents. For example, this is what happened with Bell Pottinger Group from the U.K., and most recently with the Jamestown Foundation that had sent so-called analysts to Belarus to publish favorable articles about Lukashenka.

Today the free world’s fundamental values are under attack. Unfortunately, dictators’ cooperation proves to be very effective. Sometimes they are even more effective than the democratic world. This is what the democratic opposition is constantly speaking about, and it should be taken into consideration. For example, the Syrians that live in England appeal the Parliament of the UK not asking to discuss Syria – they demanded to increase pressure on Lukashenka who helps the regimes of Bashar al-Assad and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Dictators always help each other.

The present situation in Belarus is probably the most difficult, but Europe and the Euro-Atlantic community have enough experience to make necessary conclusions and develop a strategy that doesn’t involve appeasing the dictator. Recently renowned German politician Uta Zapf said a very important thing. She is well-known in Belarus. During the last 15 years she has headed the Ad Hoc group on Belarus of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE. She is known for trying to use every opportunity to establish a dialogue with the powers. She was instrumental to legitimize Lukashenka’s so-called “parliament” and to exclude the legitimate Superior Council dismissed by the dictator from the PA OSCE. And so she said that she failed. This is an unusual but brave thing to say.

When asked how she could describe Lukashenka, Uta Zapf said that he is a criminal. You cannopt be diplomatic with a criminal.

We must remember that, and we must protect our European values. We must be more decisive.

Today we need determined actions to release the political prisoners in Belarus. Instead, we are offered some measures to once again establish a contact between the dictator and the Europeans. This is a mistake because political prisoners are being killed in jails. I was released when sanctions were imposed. I said that I had little hope to be released. But when the sanctions were imposed, my friend Dzmitry Bandarenka and I were free. No new sanctions followed, and the political prisoners, including former presidential candidate Mikalai Statkievich and famous human rights activist Ales Bialiatski are still in jail. Our priority is the release of the political prisoners.

Secondly, the dictator’s regime should not get any help. Try to help the Belarusian democrats and independent media instead. Try to help the civil society. Try to help families of the victims of repressions. We need this kind of help.

It is time for the Europeans to be bold. Take a unilateral decision on free-of-charge visas for Belarusians, it would change the situation.

I have said previously that the situation of Belarus is complex, but I remain an optimist. And do you know why? In jail and after release I have been feeling an unprecedented solidarity from the entire world: from Europe, the U.S., and, of course, from Belarus itself. And this support and solidarity that came from common people and from the civil society were enough to make me an optimist.

I have a material proof of this solidarity. The impossible became possible. In jail I got a letter from a great European. I was not supposed to get it. In the letter, he expressed his support to me personally, to the democratic movement and human rights in Belarus. It was a miracle that the letter reached me. Afterwards the letter was with me wherever I went. You can recognize the signature. This is a letter from, as I have already said, a great European, Vaclav Havel. On the letter there is a stamp of the prison censor.

For me, it was not just a token or a symbol. This is a commitment of the consciousness of Europe to the democracy in Belarus. European Belarus.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Belarus marks Constitution Day

The Supreme Council of Belarus adopted the Constitution 19 years ago, on March 15, 1994.

The country's main law was amended in the referendum on 24 November 1996 initiated by Lukashenka. Lukashenka used the referendum to start counting his 5-year term in office since 1996 thus adding 2 years to his term. The Supreme Council was dissolved and a puppet “national assembly” was elected.

Lukashenka also received the right to appoint six judges of the Constitutional Court and members of the Central Election Commission, BelaPAN reports.

The amendments reduced powers of the Constitutional Court: the range of agencies able to initiate decisions of the court was reduced. In according to the amendments, this right was given to the president, the government, the parliamentary houses, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Economic Court. The Constitution Court was deprived of the right to make decisions on own initiative.

Belarus held another referendum on October 17, 2004, that ended a two-term limit for the presidency.

The amendments to the Constitution were initiated by Lukashenka to establish absolute power in the country.

“It was in fact a coup orchestrated by the referendum organisers in 1996,” a judge of the first composition of the Constitutional Court, Mikhail Pastukhou, is confident. “The Constitutional Court decided by a majority of votes that it was unacceptable to propose amendments to the Constitution, in fact a new constitution, to a mandatory referendum. It said that the results of the voting were only advisory. Nevertheless, Lukashenka didn't agree and released a decree to hold a mandatory referendum.”

Western countries and the Belarusian opposition didn't recognise the results of the referendums on amending the Constitution drawing attention to numerous violations and frauds.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Andrei Sannikov: Strategy and political will are needed to bring freedom to Belarus

International Brussels Forum will be in the Belgian capital from 15 to 17 of March.

It is attended by well-known and influential politicians from Europe and the U.S. Our country in the Forum will be presented by the leader of the civil campaign "European Belarus" and former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov. His article about the situation in Belarus was published on the website of Forum:

For almost 19 years, Belarus has been ruled by one of the most ruthless dictatorships in the world. The regime of Alexander Lukashenka has survived using what in Belarus is called the "East-West Swing": whenever there is pressure from Russia, Lukashenko seeks Western support claiming a threat to independence; whenever the West applies pressure on human rights, the dictator swears allegiance to Russia. Such tactics helped him usurp power through a rigged referendum on the constitution in 1996, using a moment when the ailing Boris Yeltsin needed his help to be reelected. In time, Belarus found that international legitimacy and recognition through elections were not even necessary to preserve its East-West Swing.

The West’s softness on Lukashenko invariably results in the regime becoming more aggressive, both domestically and internationally. In 2009, there was an unprecedented effort by the West to legitimise Lukashenko’s rule. EU High Representative Javier Solana, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Pope Benedict XVI, and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite all met with him. Belarus was invited to join the Eastern Partnership, and several other high-level meetings took place before Lukashenko’s bloody crackdown of December 19, 2010.

Today, the dictatorship in Belarus is better equipped than ever, and is contributing to international problems. It has established ties with other rogue states around the world. The authoritarian practices of Lukashenko’s rule in Belarus are also being replicated in neighboring Russia and Ukraine. For the leaderships of those two countries, Belarus is a successful example of how to maintain power and counter the liberties and basic human rights that threaten an authoritarian regime.

The search for a solution to the situation in Belarus is hampered by several myths.

Some say that the people of Belarus are not ready for democratic change, as if Belarusians enjoy living under a dictatorship. Others argue that Lukashenko guarantees the independence of Belarus, but the same was said about Romania’s Nicolae Ceausecu and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, and is still said by supporters of North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un. Another myth is that the opposition to the regime is fragmented and weak. But such an opposition exists despite persecution, beatings, exile, torture, jail, and killings, and despite little funding or Western support. Nevertheless, it managed to produce the heaviest blow yet to the legitimacy of the regime during protests following the sham presidential election of 2010. The shock waves from those events still reverberate, as demonstrated by the miserable turnout at last year’s polls.

Unfortunately, the window of opportunity created by the failed elections was wasted. Moreover, Europe risks falling prey to the East-West Swing again: there is no real taboo on having political or commercial dealings with Lukashenko and there are enough people to serve his needs in the West. But history is against them.

The Arab Spring has proven that supporting dictatorial regimes for the sake of stability eventually leads to the opposite. The only solution is to invest and support democratic movements. That is what Belarus needs today. Sporadic measures taken in reaction to crackdowns will not address the problem in the long term. There has to be a strategy, backed by a political will to implement it, in order to bring freedom to Belarus.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Evening of commemorating disappeared politicians will be held in Minsk

The Young Christian Democrats are inviting to the event “We will not forget!”.

The event will be devote to the commemoration of the disappeared politicians and a journalist Yury Zakharanka, Dzmitry Zavadski, Viktar Hanchar, Anatol Krasouski and also Henadz Karpenka who died in unexplained circumstances.

The event will be held on 16 March at Charnysheuskaha 3 (office of BPF party), the press-service of BChD reports.

The youth of BChD party wants in this way to attract the attention of the general public to the cases of the disappeared, since in 2014 and 2015 limitation periods run out on them and the cases may be closed.

Hary Pahaniajla, Andrei Klimau, Yury Khashchavatski, Vital Rymasheuski and others will take part in the event.

In the framework of the event they will offer to sign the petition to the General Prosecutor’s office, composed by Hary Pahaniajla, demanding the investigation of the cases.

The Young Christian Democrats will hold such events monthly on 16th, devoting them to each of the disappeared.

The next event will be devoted to Yury Zakharanka.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

USA intelligence: Belarus will see new crisis in 2013

The economic situation remains fragile in Belarus, the country may face a new economic crisis.

The conclusions are made in the annual report by the director of the national intelligence of the USA James Clapper on modern threats, RIA Novosti reports.

“Aliaksandr Lukashenka survived the crisis, which proved to be the strongest threat to his power since 1994. Some adjustments and financial assistance from Russia leveled most of the negative consequences of the crisis and also led to gradual attenuation of oppositional movement”, - the report for 2012 says, which James Clapper submitted on Tuesday in the Senate’s committee for intelligence.

“At the same time, the economic situation in Belarus remains fragile and Lukashenka’s refusal to carry out structural reforms creates a possibility of the country entering a new economic crisis in 2013”, - the document says.

Belarusian economists confirm that the current year will be one of the hardest for the authorities. Leanid Zaika stated that in an interview to Euroradio.

“Economic threats are quite high. The current year stands out with the necessity to pay out at least three billion of debts. There is no this kind of money so far. From the point of view of foreign exchange flow the situation is probably not better than last year”, - the economist said.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Vladimir Bukovskiy: Belarusian opposition does its job

A meeting with a former dissident Vladimir Bukovskiy took place in Prague.

It was devoted to the publication of his book “And wind comes back” in the Czech language, Radio Svaboda reports.

Vladimir Bukovskiy is now 70, approximately half of these years he spent in the Soviet Unon and half – in emigration. At the beginning of the 1990-ies the dissident returned to Russia and was a witness at the proceedings at the country’s Constitutional Court on the case CPSU against Eltsin. Preparing to the proceedings Bukovskiy was granted access to the co-called “special folder” from the archive of the president of Russia – secret documents of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet KGB. Bukovskiy copied and later published some of these documents. He says that among the things that surprised him in the documents was first of all the behavior of Western politicians in the relations with the Communist leadership of the USSR.
“We recently published a document stating that the senator Joe Biden, the current Vice-President of the USA, came to the Soviet Union in 1979 and in a private conversation in the Central Committee said: “Do not pay attention that we organize protests about the issue of dissident, political prisoners – we do that for public. You will say “no” and we will accept that “no”. Such an open hypocrisy of an American senator. Why did he say that? Did he think that the Soviet authorities would like him better for that? No, they despised such things and did not like people without principles. We published this document in the USA, but, of course, it did not have any effect on the results of the elections”, - Vladimir Bukovskiy told.

The former dissident explained that his decision to leave post-Soviet Russia was mainly influenced by the refusal of the then Russian president Boris Eltsin to take the Communist Party to court – something like a Nuremberg process against the leadership of the Nazi Germany. Without such a trial the people, responsible for the crimes committed during the existence of the USSR, remained in power and received an opportunity to control Russian business.

In the elections 2008 Bukovskiy tried to run for president in Russia, but the Russian Central Electoral Commission did not register him as a candidate. He explains that in this way he tried to bring the attention of the international community to the new attempts of the Russian authorities to use punitive psychiatry against dissidents. According to him, the return of punitive psychiatry in Russia is still possible and even logical since the people, who once diagnosed false mental conditions with Soviet dissidents, retained their positions and diplomas.

The participants of the meeting asked Bukovskiy, which major mistakes he saw in the activities of the current Russian opposition. Among such mistakes he mentioned the passion for party battles in the conditions when parties cannot really become influential.

“In the end they start competing with each other. In different words, the energy of these parties goes on fighting each other, but not the regime”, - he said.

Vladimir Bukovskiy’s opinion about the Belarusian opposition is different. He is sure, that is has achieved a lot, especially in the international arena.

“Your opposition is very active – it is hard to reproach it for anything. It is heard in the West. It arranges big protests inside Belarus too. At some point Lukashenka was totally a persona non-grata in Europe, he was not received anywhere, and it was the result of the work of the opposition, which led many campaigns on the issue of the political repressions. They do their job, but it is not always clear what to do with regimes of that kind”, - Bukovskiy claimed.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Uta Zapf: Lukashenka is a criminal

There will be no changes in Belarus while a dictator remains in power.

Uta Zapf, a Bundestag’s member from the Social-Democratic part of Germany, said that in an interview to Deutsche Welle. For 15 years she has been heading the German-Belarusian parliamentary group and for several recent years – a special working group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (PA OSCE) on Belarus. Zapf has decided recently not to run for a new term in the parliament. However Belarus has been and remains a pain spot for her, the German politician stated in an interview to Deutsche Welle when summing up her activities.

- Why Belarus, a European Union’s neighbor country, is perceived more distant than, for example, New Zealand by many Europeans, including Germans?

- May be it is because of the somewhat weird president who has led the country so far from European standards? I am sure that the country’s image is defined by the dictatorial regime of Lukashenka, that is why Europeans, including Germans, consider it so unattractive.

- How did you get along with Belarusian parliamentarians? Do they express their own opinion at points? Are they allowed to have their own opinion?

- I assume, they are not. At least I never met anyone who would say anything different from what the PM’s are prescribed to say from above. We know whom they promote as parliamentarians and which methods are used to oust undesired candidates. Only those remain, who obediently dance to Lukashenka’s fiddle.

- The European Union and Germany tried to use carrots as well as sticks in their relations with Minsk. What was more effective - the policy of sanctions or the policy of rapprochement via a dialogue?

- In my opinion, neither brought about anything. Now we do not have any more sanctions at our disposal, because the sanctions which would affect common citizens are unacceptable to us. But they do not want a carrot in Minsk either.

How many extremely attractive offers were made by Germany and the European Union! There were assistance in developing the infrastructure, and know how transfer, and assistance in building a jural state, whatnot. Minsk needed to only agree. But Lukashenka and his team said no. Neither the sanctions scared them, nor the suggestions tempted. I think that the main issue here is that for Lukashenka the main task is to stay in power.

- Excuse me for a personal question, but do not you get desperate sometimes?

- Yes. I am not full of pessimism. For the long years that I went to Belarus I met so many wonderful people. It is painful to me that they have to live in such a country under such oppression. The people are wonderful, they spare no efforts to help each other.

Non-governmental organizations support each other, help political prisoners, who tried to stand for their civic and political rights or fought for the freedom of media. But neither have they achieved anything. On the contrary, the situation is that it is high time to go into a depression. So sometimes I actually get desperate because we have not managed to achieve anything.

- You party-mate, a chancellor candidate from the Social-Democratic Party of Germany PeerSteinbrück has recently brought numerous complaints for calling Italian politicians Beppe Grillo and Silvio Berlusconi clowns. No one objected the essence of the matter, but a chancellor candidate does not befit to talk like that about foreign politicians. How would you call Aliaksandr Lukashenka?

- I would call him a criminal.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Andrei Sannikov: Belarus needs Poland’s solidarity

Leader of the European Belarus met with representatives of the Polish government and parliament.

On March 7, former presidential candidate, leader of the European Belarus Andrei Sannikov, co-director of the Belarusian House Dzmitry Barodka and editor-in-chief of the website charter97.org Natallia Radzina met with deputy chairperson on the Foreign Affairs Commission, leader of the Belarusian group of the Polish Sejm Robert Tyszkiewicz and members of the group, and with deputy chairperson of the Right and Justice party Adam Lipinski.

During the meetings, the parties discussed the situation in Belarus, Poland’s politics regarding our country and the EU’s politics regarding the Belarusian issue in general. The members of the Polish parliament all agreed that the illegally elected parliament cannot be recognized, and that contacts with the civil society and democratic forces of Belarus should be broadened.

Previously Andrei Sannikov and his wife Iryna Khalip met with Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

Andrei Sannikov, coordinator of the Euroepan Belarus Dzmitry Bandarenka and editor-in-chief of charter97.org Natallia Radzina met with deputy foreign minister Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz to discuss the Polish-Belarusian relations and the problems of relationships between countries.

Moreover, Andrei Sannikov and Natallia Radzina met with deputy foreign minister, future executive director of the European Foundation in Support of Democracy Jerzy Pomianowski and president of the International Solidarity Foundation Krzysztof Stanowski.

“I am very happy to discuss the situation in Belarus both in the Foreign Ministry and the Sejm (in other words, with the government and the parliament), and even with the future director of the newly established foundation in support of democracy. We have big expectations from the European Foundation in Support of Democracy that will become a tool of real help for the supporters of European and democratic development of Belarus.

Today in Poland the interest in Belarus remains high. Politicians and public figures are concerned that their neighbors live in a dictatorship, and they are looking for ways to impact this situation.

The issue of the political prisoners was raised during every meeting. I am glad that Minister Sikorski and his deputies, representatives of the Sejm confirmed their rigid position regarding liberation of all Belarusian political prisoners. Nevertheless, I am convinced that Poland, too, isn’t doing enough to make it happen. Today, when our friends are being crippled and murdered in prisons, a conversation about some kind of a dialogue with the dictator is impossible. In Poland, there is a very good understanding that the dictatorship in Belarus hinders the development of the entire region. Poland agrees that today the democratic movement in Belarus needs the same level of support that Poland itself received in the Solidarity-times”, Andrei Sannikov commented on his visit to Warsaw.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Arrest of Lukashenka seems difficult but possible

The West has opportunities and tools to arrest the Belarusian dictator and his cronies.

To do this the western countries need proper conditions and political will. Harry Pahanyaila, the head of the legal department of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC), talks to charter97.org about the prpoposal of Andrew Friedman, an international human rights lawyer, to use the International Criminal Court to fight against dictators.

“The idea to judge tyrants, including the Belarusian one, is very good. But as far as we speak about the International Criminal Court with the Rome Statute, it has not been ratified by Belarus, so the country does not fall within its jurisdiction. On the other hand, the international criminal law has a definition of the universal criminal jurisdiction,” the lawyer says.

He adds that the legislation allows to bring citizens of other countries to responsibility for grave crimes, including torture, kidnapping and homicides.

“What concerns heads of state, we have a big problem. They have immunity from criminal prosecution under the Vienna Convention. Of course, there is a practice of bringing heads of state to responsibility for crimes against humanity and peace, genocide, but it is not used widely,” the human rights activist stressed.

The specialist says the countries as a rule refuse to apply the universal criminal jurisdiction to heads of state preferring to try them as ordinary citizens after expiration of their term in office.

“I would personally welcome the arrest of Lukashenka. It is not easy, but possible. The universal criminal jurisdiction can be applied by the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France. A criminal case against the Belarusian dictator can be initiated if these countries have proper conditions and political will. It is more real to do with his cronies: Sheiman, Sivakou, Paulyuchenka, Navumau and others. They don't have immunity,” Harry Pahanyaila said.

It should be reminded that Andrew Friedman, an international human rights lawyer, wrote on Bloomberg's website about using the International Criminal Court to fight against dictators.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Bloomberg: US should take steps against despot Lukashenka

The US should use the International Criminal Court to fight against dictators.

The creeping infringement on human rights in Russia under President Vladimir Putin raises a broader quandary for the international community: Do repressive laws matter if they’re rarely or never enforced?

Over the past year, Russia’s parliament has passed a raft of measures impinging upon the human rights of its citizens. They allow authorities to impose onerous fines for unsanctioned gatherings, shut down websites they view as extremist and imprison journalists for slander.

Because the laws are often vaguely worded and have not yet been aggressively enforced, some might see them as something less than serious. As Bloomberg View writer Leonid Bershidsky put it: “The parliament has used its year in power to turn Russia from a pretend democracy into an equally fake dictatorship.”

Such analysis overlooks the powerful effect of simply having repressive rules on the books. The selective enforcement of draconian laws and regulations is a well-used tool of dictators around the world. The strategy allows them to single out opponents of their regimes, and has a chilling effect on those who would like to push for a government that respects human rights.

Last Dictatorship

Consider Europe’s last dictatorship, the ex-Soviet state of Belarus. Any assembly requires advanced permission from the government, a common stipulation even in free societies. In Belarus, permission can be denied arbitrarily. This results in the refusal of permits for regime opponents, who are then beaten and arrested should they dare to go ahead with gatherings. Prison sentences have been handed out for activities as innocuous as clapping hands along with a protest.

Belarusian elections offer an even starker example. In the 2010 presidential race, 7 of 9 opposition candidates were jailed, and several received lengthy prison sentences. Opposition candidate Andrei Sannikau was convicted of breaching the public order for his role in organizing a protest. Put simply, in Belarus, if you agree with the regime, you are welcome to take to the streets in support or stand for elections. If you disagree, you are welcome to head to jail.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his regime have a similarly selective approach to enforcement. Regulators have used a 2004 content law to shut down opposition media outlets, a campaign that has resulted in an extremely pro-government media. The crackdown promises to expand under a 2010 law extending content restrictions to the internet.

Belarus and Venezuela are positive examples, in that they are real instances where selective enforcement of laws was used to dissuade opposition. The unseen, negative effects could be still greater.

If you were an activist in a country that is something less than free, would the possibility of substantial punishment dissuade you from pursuing your liberties? Most activists would say no, that the fight for freedom is worth it. What if you were merely considering becoming an activist? How about if you were an ordinary citizen who had only recently become frustrated by government policies and were looking for a way to express that anger? Then the answer becomes much more difficult.

It’s overly simplistic to assume that dictators and despots do whatever they want without any regard for the law. In the seminal volume “Constitutions in a Non-Constitutional World,” legal scholar Nathan J. Brown details Arab Basic Laws under autocrats who had no interest in respecting freedom or human rights. Instead of writing such legal documents and then violating them, oppressive governments instead simply wrote laws that allowed them to be oppressive and then used those powers primarily against opponents.

No Excuse

Getting countries to abide by international law, which forbids such repressive legislation, has always been difficult. This is no excuse for giving up. There are several steps that can be taken to encourage states to respect fundamental human rights.

First and foremost, the world’s single superpower, the U.S., must show a renewed respect for international law. This could begin with ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention and a renewed conversation regarding U.S. participation in other global legal regimes, such as theInternational Criminal Court.

The United Nations can also take steps. For example, Venezuela is currently a member of the UN Human Rights Council. Participation on such bodies by serial human rights violators should not be tolerated. Only if leadership comes from the U.S. and the U.N. will international law have a chance of becoming a consideration for despotic governments.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Bakiyev in Minsk plots coup in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz politologists warn about a possible coup organised by the country's former president.

Kurmanbek and Zhanysh Bakiyevs will try to return home with the help of their supporters who still live in Kyrgyzstan. They are making attempts to unsettle the situation in the country, Kyrgyz gezitter.kz writes.

Kurmanbek Bakiyev was closely connected to criminal structures when he was in office. It is proved with solving the mystery of the death of three persons, including former head of the president's administration Medet Sadyrkulov. At the trial in Sadyrkulov's case on February 11, Kurmanbek Bakiyev was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison and his younger brother Zhanysh Bakiyev was given a life term. After that, the Kyrgyz parliament appealed to international parliamentary organisations asking for their assistance in extradition of the Bakiyevs from Belarus.

Analysts suppose that the Bakiyevs will exert all efforts to return to the country and organise disorders and perhaps a coup there.

“Even if their associates serve their prison terms in spring, the Bakiyevs won't sit on their hands. Under the court decision, one of them got a 24-year prison term and the other one was sentenced to life. Will they idly? No, they will try to act via their people,” Kyrgyz analyst Mars Sariyev says.

The politologist also names supporters of the former president, who may lead the coup. They are Kamchybek Tashiyev, Sadyr Zhaparov, Akmatbek Keldibekov and others. Among them are Maksim Bakieyv's business partner and head of Respublika Party Omurbek Babanov, patriarch of the country's southern elite Usen Sydykov and others.

A former president of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and his brother Zhanybek Bakiyev were put on the CIS and Interpol wanted lists. They are charged with involvement in mass killings. The former Kyrgyz president and his family have been hiding in Belarus since April 2010. Kurmanbek Bakiyev received a Belarusian passport in August 2010.

The Kyrgyz authorities have repeatedly demanded to extradite the Bakiyevs to Kyrgyzstan, where they were tried in absentia.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

100,000 people across the world support Ales Byalyatski

Amnesty International presents the results of the Letter Writing Marathon. Thousands of people wrote letters to Ales Byalyatski as part of the marathon.

As many as 104,731 measures were taken to support the Belarusian human rights activist, who was recognised prisoner of conscience.

Participants of the international marathon showed their support to Ales Byalyatski, the jailed head of Viansa human rights centre and vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in different ways offered by Amnesty International's activists – writing letters of solidarity, signing petitions to the Belarusian authorities for the release of Ales Byalyatski, performances, concerts and light shows.

Amnesty International names the countries that joined the marathon: Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ghana, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mali, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Togo, Tunis, Ukraine, Venezuela, the UK.

The organisation enlists some actions to support Ales Byalyatski.

People received stickers with the portrait of the jailed human rights activists.

Former political prisoner Andrei Sannikov took part in the marathon on the Human Rights Day in Amnesty International Secretariat in London.

The annual letter writing marathon was launched by Amnesty International on December 7, 2012, ahead of the Human Rights Day. It was carried out all over the world with a slogan “Write for Rights!' The marathon was organised to attract attention of the international community to the fate of human rights activists prosecuted by the authorities in different countries of the world.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Beaten victims punished instead of sadist policemen

A criminal case has been filed against Ivan Shkurko, beaten by policemen in Lida.

In autumn last year policemen in Lida beat, humiliated and tortured two detained young people.

The accusation has been put forward only now, but not to the policemen. One of the victims faces a prison term for resisting public agents. The Investigatory Committee refuses to comment on this case, Belsat TV channel reports.
The incident with the detention and beating of Ivan and Bahdan Shkurko happened at night on 18 November in the club Prospect in LIda. The brothers came to a disco to have fun but got under the fists and boots of the security and administration of the club. They say, one of the guards did not like them for some reason.

“The beating of Bahdan took place in the club’s foyer. The initial reason of the conflict was the underage guard”, - Larysa Shkurko, the mother of the brothers, says.

Ivan tried to prevent the beating of his brother, to stop the fight as he could.

“Two people held him, the third one kicked the head like a football ball. It all was happening before my eyes”, - he told.

In some time a police brigade came to help the beating.

The policemen brutally detained the brothers, using sticks, handcuffs and tear gas. Ivan says, he did not expect such an attack since they did not resist the police. And they could not with their eyes sprayed with tear gas. The policemen kept beating the guys further from people’s eyes and surveillance cameras. Ivan was being beaten on his leg that had been broken already, and then they decided to torture him.
“The guy was undressed, they kept beating him in the car, one of the policemen started using gas”, - a human rights activist Andrei Bandarenka told.

But it is not all what they did to Ivan.

“They took him to a forest, beat, and started peeing on the guy’s head after that. These are not just tortures, these are perverted tortures”, - the human rights activist says.

The corporal punishment continued at the police station. When the mother of the detained brothers came to the police station, she was shocked by what she heard.

“I rapidly ran into the police station and heard thuds, a child’s groans. He was begging, asking “Do not touch me”. And then they sprayed the gas. They started to quarreled among themselves – “Why you sprayed so much, it is impossible to stay in here”, - the Ivan and Bahdan’s mother told.

The policemen acted so brutally that Ivan and Bahdan Skurko were taken to a hospital the next day. Ivan’s injuries are registered in photographs and the conclusion of a medicolegal investigation.

“The bruises were caused by strikes of a subject of a oblong shape (probably a rubber stick), which is confirmed by the shape of the bruises and their size… There were no less than 30 traumatic interacitons of firm blunt objects with different parts of the victim’s body”, - the excerpt from the expertise conclusion by a state medical expert Volha Trafimava.

As the result a criminal case has been filed. But not against the one who did the beatings, but against the victim himself. Bahdan Shkurko faces an administrative responsibility for resisting policemen and disorderly conduct. They took up Ivan later. In January he was detained and after a beating at the same police station put in prison for three days for disorderly conduct. And in February a criminal case has been filed against the young man. He faces up to five years in prison for resisting the police. All that time Larysa Shkurko has been trying to achieve justice, but so far no one of the policemen has been punished.

Tortures are not rare with Belarusian police. A widely known is the case of Vasil Sarochyk, who was tortured to take responsibility for a number of thefts. A foreman Pavel Laushyn from Minsk also went through the police hell. They tried to accuse him of stealing pipes at his own site. And Pavel Plaksa has been sentenced to 10 year in high security prison, having forced out the testimonials with tortures.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau