Aleksandr Kazulin is on Hunger Strike For 47 Days Already!

(It is Time For the UN Security Council To Get Involved!)

Today on December 5th, 2006 Irina Kazulina has visited the colony No.3 in Vitsebsk, where her husband, a Former Candidiate For Presidency Aleksandr Kazulin, is continuing a hunger strike for the 47th day. He has lost 40 kg over the 8 months of detention. The meeting of Irina with her husband lasted for only 30 minutes. In this short period of time she was trying to convince Aleksandr to stop the protest which is becoming a threat to his health and life. However, as Irina Kazulina says to the Charter'97, the political prisoner is not going to stop the hunger strike until his major demand, to discuss the situation with Human Rights in Belarus in the UN Security Council.

Kazulin's heroic hunger strike is commented by the leader of the Civil Initiative "We Remember" Irina Krasouskaya: "I admire the courage of Aleksandr Kazulin. I respect him very much for what he is doing. It is a very serious step. Such self-sacrifice can awaken the public opinion, the people who are waiting for somebody else to change the situation in the country. It is obvious that Aleksandr Kazulin is a serious person and he will go all the way. But I really worry about his health. A lot of struggle is before us, and we should be healthy and strong to fight. Kazulin should keep his strength for this struggle.

Undoubtedly, Aleksandr Kazulin's demand must be heard. We are doing everything so that as many people as possible, both in Belarus and abroad, learn about his courageous deed," Iryna Krasouskaya said in an interview to the Charter'97 Press-Center.

Sergey Skrebets is Released on November 15, 2006

(Aleksandr Kazulin is 4 Weeks on Hunger Strike Already)

On November 15, 2006 Sergey Skrebets, a political prisoner, has been released after a year and a half of imprisonment. The former deputy and an active oppositionist was charged with and sentenced to 2.5 years in a minimum-security correctional labour facility. In October Skrebets was suddenly amnestied and his term of imprisonment reduced by one year.

Human rights activists consider the verdict to the former deputy to be politically motivated. In summer 2004 he took part in the hunger strike of the "Respublika" deputies, who demanded democratization of the Electoral Code, and release political prisoners. He also was an organiser of a protest action timed to the end of a 10-year Lukashenko's rule in July 2004.

The former deputy connects his release with a hunger strike of solidarity with demands of the political prisoner Aleksandr Kazulin, who insists on consideration of situation in Belarus in the UN Security Council. As said by Skrebets, the state of health of Aleksandr Kazulin has considerably declined after four weeks of hunger strike. "Kazulin is very exhausted physically. It is serious to lose 17 kilograms with his height. I do not trust prison doctors, they wouldn't be able to help him to transit from a hunger strike. Their methods are to put a tube into one's mouth and feed forcibly. One of doctors threatened to do so to me, and boasted to have done that many times before. These are methods of a fascist concentration camp. A period after a hunger strike is a very difficult process, knowledge is needed. Any wrong decision can lead to a lethal outcome. I have serous concern over Kazulin's life. But he is not going to stop the hunger strike, he sees no reasons for that," Sergey Skrebets said in an interview to the Chater'97 Press-Center.

Zmitser Dashkevich is Sentenced to 1.5 Years For Nothing!

(Prison Time For Nothing For Young Belarusians - Regime is Dead!)

November 1st, 2006. Minsk, Belarus.

The leader of the Young Front Zmitser Dashkevich has been sentenced to 1.5 years of imprisonment in a minimum security colony. The verdict to the young activist has been passed in a closed trial by a deputy chairperson of the court of Kastrychnitski district Ala Bulash. The cruel verdict to Zmitser Dashkevich caused active protest. More than 300 persons were standing outside the court scanning "Freedom to Dashkevich!"

The trial over the leader of the Young Front Zmitser Dashkevich started on Monday, October 30, in the court of Kastrychnitski district of Minsk, and lasted for two days only, because of failure to appear in the court of most witnesses. The young activist had been charged with "activities of behalf of an unregistered organization" under Article 193 of the Criminal Code. Zmitser Dashkevich has spent more than a month in the remand prison. The maximum term of imprisonment under this article is two years.

It is not the first political trial under this article of the Criminal Code of Belarus. Activists of the public initiative of elections observation "Partnerstva" Tsimafei Dranchuk and Mikola Astrejka are already serving the sentence of one and two years respectively for participation in an unregistered organization.

"A cynical verdict to Zmitser Dashkevich is still another proof that Lukashenka's regime is not going to play in the game of law. It is quite clear that the Constitution and freedom of associations are trampled upon. It is clear that the regime is afraid of the young people, and first of all, of organized youth. For the democratic countries it is yet another proof that the dictatorship is hopeless, it is not going to be transformed or to be democratized," told the leader of the democratic forces of Belarus Aleksandr Milinkevich.

The US Ambassador to Belarus Karen Stewart said that she is disappointed by it and condemns it.
"We consider the verdict to Zmitser Dashkevich and the whole process to be politically motivated, aimed at preventing Zmitser Dashkevich from expressing his convictions in a non-violent way.
As before, we would consider those who are violating human rights, responsible for this verdict, and call upon the Belarusian authorities to release Zmitser Dashkevich and those people who are imprisoned for political reasons, in particular Alyaksandr Kazulin, Mikalay Astrejka and Tsimafei Dranchuk," American diplomat said in an interview to the BelaPAN.