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Ihf Report 2007 Human Rights in the Osce Region 246 Belarus 2006

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Ihf Report 2007 Human Rights in the Osce Region 246 Belarus 2006 244 BELARUS 2006 A demonstrator prior to the March presidential elections calls for a stop to the politics of repression in Belarus. Independence Avenue, Minsk, March 2006. © ByMedia.net BELARUS 2006: FROM FLAWED ELECTIONS TO CHRUSHING OF CIVIL SOCIETY Belarus’ poor human rights record con- ism and played the role of rubberstamping tinued to deteriorate further in the course President Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s deci- of 2006 and was characterized by systemic sions. Politicians and public activists were violations of civil and political rights. subject to intimidation and repression; dur- The state breached the basic princi- ing the year, over a thousand were arrested ples of democracy, the rule of law and in- and held for different lengths of detention ternationally guaranteed human rights based on political motives. standards, including the right to participate In 2006, political and public activists in the governing of the country; the right to and adherents of different religious groups freedom of expression, association and the repeatedly went on hunger strike as the media; and the right of peaceful assembly. last resort to defend their rights. Courts failed to adequately defend human According to sociological studies, al- rights and ignored fair trial standards. most 50% of the Belarusian population Legal provisions regulating the life of civil believed that “many people are afraid,” in society and the authorities’ practices forced a varying degrees, to express their political public associations (NGOs) either to abandon views. the legal sphere and go underground, or Independent mass media were ban- completely suspend their activities. ned by state monopolies from dissemina- The role of political parties was negligi- tion of information and journalists were ble. The parliament lacked political plural- persecuted for their professional activities. Based on the Annual Report 2007 (Events of 2006) of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC), prepared by Dzmitry Markusheuski. The full report is available at www.belhelcom.org. BELARUS 2006 245 The March presidential election fell se- Good governance riously short of international standards for President Aliaksandr Lukashenka and democratic elections, while the electoral his administration held close control over campaigns of local council deputies developments in the country. Only people launched in October, ahead of the 14 within or close to his retinue were allowed January 2007 elections, demonstrated fur- to hold dominant positions in Belarusian ther disrespect on the part of the authori- society. The president alone, without any ties for the citizens’ right to take part in go- democratic process, appointed and dis- verning of their own country. missed high-ranking state officials, includ- In the absence of economic and politi- ing chairs of the Constitutional, Supreme cal freedom, social problems continued to and Economic Courts and general prose- aggravate, with health and social care falling cutor, as well as heads of local administra- behind and failing to satisfy the basic needs tions and other regional bodies of power. of the most vulnerable population groups. The president also had the right to cancel Between January and October, the governmental acts and issue decrees and number of deaths in Belarus exceeded edicts having the force of law. Parliament’s that of births by 35,374.1 functions were virtually reduced to approv- While Belarus has ratified all the major ing presidential initiatives. UN covenants, the country’s leadership The national budget and the money has ignored criticism by international or- from the presidential fund, which was be- ganizations of violations of these instru- yond any democratic control, were obvi- ments and rejected cooperation aimed at ously used to remunerate officials loyal to improving the human rights conditions in Lukashenka to control the bureaucratic the country. The government also ignored machinery, and to disseminate presidential the resolutions of UN human rights bod- propaganda. ies, which expressed concern over the ag- According to Transparency Internatio- gravation of the situation in the country.2 nal, dissatisfaction about corruption was Moreover, the government repeatedly growing. In the Corruption Perception eluded cooperation with Adrian Severin, Index, Belarus continued to tumble down, UN special rapporteur on the situation of from position 74 in 2004 to 107 in 2005 human rights in Belarus.3 The special rap- and finally to position 151 in 2006, of a to- porteur made efforts to hold a roundtable tal of 163 countries listed.5 in Minsk to discuss the situation in the country with participation government offi- National human rights protection cials, members of political parties, civil so- The judicial system of Belarus remai- ciety organizations, human rights defend- ned dependent on the executive branch.6 ers and international observers. However, The new code on the judiciary was adopt- as of the end of the year he was still wait- ed on 29 June and was expected to show ing for a response from the government of its effect in 2007. In the Belarusian Hel- Belarus. sinki Committee’s (BHC) opinion, its provi- Belarus also failed to submit reports sions do not guarantee the independence about human rights instruments it has rati- of the judiciary. fied to the Committee on Economic, Social There was no national ombudsman in- and Cultural Rights (due in 1999), the stitution in Belarus. Thousands of com- Committee on Human Rights (due in plaints about human rights abuses ad- 2001), and the Committee against Torture dressed to the Parliamentary Commission (due in 2004).4 on Human Rights and the Presidential IHF REPORT 2007 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION 246 BELARUS 2006 Administration - to be simply forwarded N On 21 February, Tsimafei Dranchuk, back to various state bodies. The fact that Mikalai Astreika, Enira Branitskaia, and most people could not afford hiring an ad- Aliaksandr Shalaika, members of the civic vocate; that many lawyers would not take initiative on the election monitoring Part- up cases against state bodies; and the ban nerstva (Partnership) were arrested, pla- for public organizations to defend the in- ced in KGB custody and charged with ille- terests of the persons who are not their gal organization of and participation in ac- members, added to the difficulties in seek- tivities of a public association (article ing justice. 193.1 of the criminal code). The KGB pub- licly labeled them as coordinators of pro- Elections vocations during the presidential elections. 7 On 4 August, Dranchuk and Astreika re- Presidential elections ceived one- and two-year prison senten- Based on its observation results, the ces, respectively, and Branitskaia and Sha- BHC concluded that the presidential elec- laika were ordered to be imprisoned for six tion of 19 March 2006 was held in viola- months. Dranchuk was not allowed to tion of the constitution, other national leg- meet his wife who gave birth to a baby islation, and Belarus’ international obliga- while he was in custody. tions. These violations essentially affected the voting results. Moreover, Lukashenka’s N Aliaksandr Kazulin, former presidential candidacy was already illegal since legal candidate and leader of the Belarusian So- provisions in force at the time of the elec- cial-Democratic Party (Hramada) was de- tion stated that “one and the same person tained and severely beaten on 25 March can be the President not more than during a demonstration in Minsk. On 13 twice.”8 July he was sentenced to five-and-a-half A voter looking at portraits and biographies of the candidates for the 19 March 2006 presidential election in Belarus. © OSCE/Baker HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION IHF REPORT 2007 BELARUS 2006 247 years in prison for hooliganism, for organ- registered violations similar to those obser- izing activities violating public order, and ved during previous elections, especially for disobeying the police. The indictments the lack of transparency in the formation of were based on three episodes: Kazulin el- electoral commissions; drawing up and bowing his way into the National Press correcting voters’ lists; manufacturing of Center to hold a news conference as a ballot papers; and controlling the veracity newly registered presidential candidate; at- of voters’ signatures for the nomination of tempting to register for the government-or- candidates. Similarly, executive bodies, ad- ganized Third All-Belarusian People’s As- ministrations of state-owned enterprises, sembly; and participating in the 25 March and labor collectives - which all depended protests. He was denied access to his law- on the executive branch - were inade- yer for several months. He went on hunger quately involved in the preparation of the strike protesting against Lukashenka’s rule elections, including forming electoral com- and demanded that the UN Security Coun- missions and nominating candidates. cil consider Belarus’ human rights situ- The electoral commissions were ba- ation. According to the Ministry of Interior, sed on the principle of their loyalty to the Kazulin was on hunger strike for 53 days current political authorities; only a handful until 11 December, stopping after the of people with well-hidden democratic in- United States had raised the Belarusian clinations were selected to those bodies. question in the Security Council. Pro-government candidates were able to Individuals who openly supported oth- make use of public administrative and er candidates than the incumbent presi- state company resources in collecting sig- dent faced harassment. For example, work- natures for nominations. ers of state enterprises and organizations who supported the opposition candidate Freedom of expression were threatened with lay-offs and some Dismissals were actually dismissed. According to sociologists, 41% of resi- N Ales Chygir, a history teacher and de- dents believed that many people in Belarus puty of the Babruisk City Council, was not were afraid to express their political views, able to extend his contract in August after and 7.2% thought that all the citizens of the teaching history for the past 13 years.
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