The leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) Aleksandr Kazulin, prisoner of the colony "Vitsba-3", went on a hunger strike on October 20, 2006. He protests against total lawlessness in Belarus and is trying to attract attention of the UN Security Council to the situation in Belarus. The hunger strike has affected his health and he lost 20 kg. Nevertheless he denied admission to a hospital and is prohibited to meet with his lawyer and relatives.
November 24 marked the 10th anniversary of holding a national referendum which considerably enlarged the powers of the president. Evaluating the results of the referendum of November 24, 1996, a lawyer Sergei Balykin told to the BelaPAN that the powers of the parliament and courts were drastically reduced. "In fact, the president was authorized to issue laws and to veto parliaments' decisions almost insuperably," he noted.
At the same time, as said by the lawyer, "the legitimacy of the referendum still raises serious doubts. Firstly, the Supreme Soviet of the 13th convocation, when setting a referendum, called a question about a redrafted Constitution a consultative one. And the president by his Decree of December 7 imparted the binding force to the referendum's decisions. However, according to the Constitution of 1994, the Supreme Soviet has an exclusive right for setting referendums and, correspondingly, for defining what questions should be decided at the referendum. The president was not entitled to overturn the decision of the parliament. Essentially, one could say that 10 years ago Belarus made the first step for transition from a republic to a monarchy. The second step was made in autumn of 2004, when a referendum lifted the restrictions for the number of terms in presidential position for one person," S. Balykin emphasized.
No comments:
Post a Comment