BELARUS Communications sent

20. On 27 September 2001, the Special Representative transmitted an allegation concerning the following cases.

21. Ales Abramovich, a member of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, reportedly spent 35 days in detention, from 14 February

to 20 March 2000, for staging three peaceful pickets in the town of Borisov. According to the information received, this sentence reportedly related to a peaceful protest action on 16 January 2000, during which Mr. Abramovich and other protestors reportedly held posters bearing slogans such as "Zakharenko, Gonchar... who is next?" It was reported that, while he has been in detention, the guards have repeatedly placed people with the open stage of tuberculosis in his cell.

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22. Vera Stremkovskaya, a leading human rights lawyer, a defence counsel in a number of high-profile cases who received a number of prestigious international human rights awards

in 1999, and the director of the Centre for Human Rights, has been reportedly threatened with

expulsion from the Collegium of Advocates if she did not cease her human rights activities.

According to the information received, the Collegium of Advocates exerted pressure on

Ms. Stremkovskaya, during a two-day human rights conference held in Minsk in March 2000,

for alleged violations of regulations which govern the legal profession in Belarus. According to

the information received, three different criminal cases have also been brought against

Ms. Stremkovskaya since December 1998 on the basis that she had defamed public officials, all

three of which were dropped at the end of December 1999. It was reported that,

on 20 June 2001, a Minsk Court convicted Ms. Stremkovskaya of libel, fining her, and that she

immediately filed an appeal against her conviction.

23. Andrei Petrov, Dmitry Abramovich and Anton Telezhnikov, three members of Zubr, a non-registered pro-democracy and human rights organization, were reportedly detained outside the Presidential Administration Building in Minsk, on 5 March 2001, after participating the same day in a demonstration and holding pictures and placards of four men who reportedly disappeared in 1999-2000: the former Minister of the Interior, Yury Zakharenko, the

Deputy Speaker of the dissolved 13th Supreme Soviet, Viktor Gonchar and his companion, Anatoly Krasovsky, and the Russian Public Television cameraman, Dmitry Zavadsky. According to the information received, Mr. Petrov and Mr. Abramovich were reportedly fined 20 times the minimum monthly salary by Leninsky District Court in Minsk on 6 March 2001, while Mr. Telezhnikov was reportedly sentenced to 15 days in prison in Okrestina Detention Centre for participation in an unsanctioned action under article 167 (2) of the Belarusian Criminal Code.

24. Four other activists from Zubr, Aleksey Shidlovsky, Timofey Dranchuk,

Dmitry Drapochko and Ales Apranich, were reportedly arrested in Minsk on 5 April 2001 for spray-painting on the wall of a factory: "Where is Gonchar? Where is Zavadsky? Where is Zakharenko?" According to the information received, the four activists are facing charges under article 341 of the Belarusian Criminal Code for allegedly defacing a building with graffiti.

25. Yuri Bandazhevsky, an internationally recognized scientist specializing in medical research on nuclear radioactivity and former Rector of the Medical Institute of Gomel, was reportedly charged on 18 June 2001 with bribery and sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Belarusian Supreme Court in Gomel to eight years' imprisonment at the UZ 15/1 prison in Minsk. This sentence was allegedly related to his outspoken criticism of the Belarusian

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authorities' reaction to the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 1986 and its harmful consequences on the health on the population. His conclusions were reportedly in contradiction with the official thesis spread by the authorities.

26. The offices of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, a non-governmental organization, have reportedly been burgled several times since 1996, resulting in the loss of a significant amount of valuable information. The persons responsible for the burglary allegedly ignored expensive office equipment but instead stole the organization's database on election monitoring and human rights violations, covering a five-year period. On 10 July 2001, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee reportedly suffered a further break-in, with the loss of two computers holding information about the organization's activities relating to the 2001 presidential election.

27. The Belarusian Association of Women Lawyers, based in the western city of Brest, reportedly came under particular scrutiny in 1998. According to the information received, at that time the human rights organization was reportedly receiving a number of foreign grants for the purpose of human rights promotion. It was reported that, although the organization was subjected to a tax audit lasting around five months, the tax authorities reportedly found an inconsistency equivalent to $4. In the interim, the president of the organization,

Ms. Galina Drebezova, was reportedly forced to expend considerable energy and time in producing and explaining the relevant documents and figures. In addition, the local authorities were reportedly not willing to allow the Belarusian Association of Women Lawyers to use municipally owned property for seminars and other human rights events.

28. The Belarusian Free Trade Union in Minsk was reportedly raided on 19 August 1999 by police officers who burst into the organization's offices on the pretext that an explosive device had been placed there. According to the information received, although no explosive device was ever found, the police officers allegedly confiscated around 30,000 leaflets calling on people to take part in the pro-democracy freedom march planned for October that year.

29. The Minsk offices of the human rights organization Spring-96 were reportedly raided

on 4 October 1999 by around 10 police officers. According to the information received, the raid, which lasted for around four hours, took place two weeks before the pro-democracy freedom march. It was reported that police officers confiscated two computers, two printers and copies of the organization's human rights journal Right to Freedom, on the grounds that the organization did not possess the necessary authorization to print on the premises. The chairperson of Spring-96, Ales Byalytsky, was reportedly detained on 18 November 1999 and kept in custody for one day after demanding from officials that the organization's confiscated equipment be returned. According to the information received, the equipment was returned to the organization

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after a delay of around two months. It was further reported that on 16 March 2001 police officers conducted a raid on the offices of Spring-96 in the town of Borisov, north-east of Minsk, on the basis that people in a neighbouring building had reportedly complained about noise.

30. Oleg Volchek, local chairperson of Legal Assistance to the Population, was reportedly denied, on 2 April 2001, registration of a national organization which was to be named "Legal Defence of Citizens". According to the information received, Mr. Volchek submitted, on

9 February 2001, in accordance with the law, the documents required to register the organization. It was reported that the Ministry of Justice refused registration of the organization, claiming that it had not meet the necessary requirements to become a public association. The main basis for the refusal was reportedly the organization's statute, which declared its aims to render legal assistance and associated consultations to others in the area of human rights and basic freedoms. According to the decision, the aims were reportedly contrary to the official definition of the term "legal assistance" and contrary to article 22 of the Law on Public Associations, which reportedly states that public associations can only represent and defend the rights and legal interests of their members and not third parties.

31. It has been reported that human rights organizations, like all other associations, are subject to a system of official warnings, which may result in their official closure by the Ministry of Justice. Fears have been expressed that official warnings may permit the Belarusian authorities to interfere in the internal affairs of the organizations. In this connection, three members of the human rights organization Spring-96, the chairperson, Ales Byalytski, as well as

Palina Stepanenka and Valyantsin Stefanovich, reportedly received and official warning on 18 August 2001 from the Ministry of Justice. According to the information received, the first warning received from the Ministry of Justice had complained that the letterhead used on Spring-96's office paper had reportedly violated official regulations. It was further reported that, in October and December 2000, the organization received a second and third official warning for the alleged incorrect use of the organization's name on its monthly human rights publication, Right to Freedom. Sergei Obodovsky, the chairperson and founder of the Mogilov Human Rights Centre, reportedly received a warning on 29 September 2000 from the local justice authorities stating that that organization had violated the 1994 Law on Public Associations by defending the rights of people who were not members of the organization. Mr. Obodovsky had appealed against the action taken against the organization to a higher judicial instance.

32. Furthermore, it has been brought to the attention of the Special Representative that

on 14 March 2001, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka issued a decree entitled "Several measures on improving distribution and use of foreign humanitarian aid", which reportedly prohibits the use of foreign funding for pro-democracy purposes. NGOs may be at risk of incurring fines and closure if they violate the legislation. On 11 May 2001, another presidential decree, entitled

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"On certain measures to improve procedures for holding meetings, rallies, street processions, demonstrations and other mass actions and pickets", was introduced which imposes new restrictions on the right of freedom of assembly. It has been reported that, under the decree, the body organizing a sanctioned event may be held entirely responsible for the action and may be fined or de-registered if public order is deemed to have been violated.

33. On 27 September 2001 the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, transmitted an allegation regarding the following cases.

34. Oleg Volchek, a lawyer, chairperson of Legal Assistance to the Population, and chairperson of the non-governmental committee which has demanded an independent investigation into the possible disappearances of Yury Zakharenko, Viktor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky and Dmitry Zavadsky, was reportedly arrested on 21 July 1999, in Minsk, after a pro-democracy demonstration with other companions. He was then taken to the Moskovsky District Department of Internal Affairs, where it is alleged that he was repeatedly punched and kicked on the body and head by three police officers who refused him access to a doctor. Mr. Volchek and his companions were not reportedly released until 22 July 1999. Apparently, as a result of his complaint, Mr. Volchek was charged with malicious hooliganism under article 201 (2) of the Belarusian Criminal Code and risked a sentence of several years' imprisonment. The charges against him were reportedly dropped in November 1999 owing to lack of evidence. Another allegation was transmitted on this case on 30 September 2001 by the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression.

35. Valery Schukin, a human rights defender, independent journalist and member of the dissolved parliament, was reportedly sentenced by Minsk City Court on 17 April 2001 to three months' imprisonment. According to the information received, Mr. Schukin was convicted for his alleged role in organizing the October 1999 pro-democracy freedom march, and for alleged hooliganism relating to an incident which reportedly occurred on 16 January 2001 when police officers refused him entry to a press conference given by the Minister of the Interior, Vladimir Naumov, in Minsk. It was further reported that a struggle had ensued between

Mr. Schukin and guards policing access to the conference, who had reportedly violently forced him to the ground.

36. Vladimir Yuhko, a member of the Belarusian Conservative Christian Party, was reportedly ill-treated by police officers on 18 May 2001 and suffered a broken arm while protesting outside the Palace of the Republic building in Minsk. According to the information received, police officers detained approximately 30 protestors who were reportedly carrying posters of the men

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who had apparently disappeared and distributing leaflets contesting the proposed union of Belarus with Russia. It was reported that plain clothes police officers are alleged to have used force to disperse the peaceful protestors and ill-treated a number of them.

Observations

37. The Special Representative regrets that at the time of the finalization of this report the Government had not transmitted any reply to her communications.

BHUTAN

38. In a communication dated 25 July 2001, the Special Representative requested the Government to extend an invitation to her to carry out an official visit to Bhutan. No reply has been received so far.