Protesting against the arrest of the “Pagonya” journalists Markevich and Mozheiko, ZUBR activists held an action in Minsk today. At 5p.m. near the “Oktyabr” cinema hall there turned up seven hangmen wearing black garments with hoods. They were wearing black T-shirts with words: KGB, POLICE, JUSTICE, RIOT POLICE. The eighth participant of this intriguing action was wearing a Lukashenko’s mask.

---

Congressman Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) addressed on June 27 the US House of Representatives with an introductory speech, presenting the proposed Belarus Democracy Act. Following you may find his speech’s transcript:

---

On June 27 the “house of representatives” approved in the second reading the draft law “On freedom of faith and religious organizations”, against which there protested a range of the Belarusian confessions. Out of 87 so-called “deputies”, who engaged in the voting, only 2 voted against the law, while 85 upheld it. Upon the initiative of the speaker Vadim Popov the scandalous draft project was proposed for voting without deliberations. Not a single serious amendment had been taken into account.

---

The Council of Europe’s parliamentarians determined that the Belarusian problem cannot be limited to the legal affairs committee alone, but must be proposed for consideration of the Assembly’s Bureau, scheduled to be held today, on June 28 before the session’s closure. Therefore, reports Radio Ratsya, they are very likely to set up a special committee for Belarus today.

---

OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Foreign Minister of Portugal Antonio Martinez da Kruz and the organization’s secretary general Yan Kubis won’t be able to visit Minsk in the near future in order to examine the situation with the OSCE AMG group on the spot, said yesterday the FM’s press-secretary Pavel Latushko as saying. The Belarusian side, said Latushko, finds the time of the visit totally inappropriate. “The meeting must take place within the established time frames and not on the eve of the main state holiday,” – said Latushko.

---