Research assistant of Barysaw museum of local lore, history and economy, Valery Rakhovich, was fired for the cycle of articles published in the newspaper “Homan Barysawschyny” and dedicated to Barysaw underground during the years of German Nazi occupation in the World War II.

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At the moment the Foreign Ministry of Belarus is carrying out investigation regarding the statement of French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie that the assault against French soldiers in Ivory Coast had been a planned act carried out by Belarusian mercenaries. This was told by FM press secretary Andrei Savinykh on Thursday. According to the statement of French Defence Minister, nine peacekeepers were killed during the attack of Belarusian mercenaries who piloted two Sukhoi Su-25 planes, RIA Novosti inform.

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The 2 November presidential election in the United States has provided Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka with ammunition to attack the U.S. government for transgressions that are usually ascribed by Washington to Minsk; namely, for failing to observe democratic election standards. "The presidential election, according to their [U.S.] standards, are inadmissible for us," Lukashenka said on 4 November. "If we had staged an election like they did in the United States, we would have been crushed a long time ago."

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The situation in Belarus is to become one of the topics to be discussed on November 11 in Madrid by Foreign Ministers of Poland and Spain – Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Miguel Angel Moratinos, “Polish Radio informs.

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The Council of Europe will offer help to democratic forces in Belarus to halt the isolation into which the ex-Soviet republic is falling under President Alexander Lukashenko, the new council chairman said after Poland took over the 6-month rotating presidency of the pan-European human rights watchdog.

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The Prosecutor’s Office continues to look for compromising materials against oppositionists, the former participants of the parliamentary elections. First of all the authorities accuse of absence of political correctness the United Civil Party members, Maryna Bahdanovich and Alyaksandar Tsynkevich, human rights activist and member of the Belarusian Social Democratic Hramada Aleh Volchak, who were removed from the election race by the decision of the election commission.

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Administrative commission of the Pershamajski district of Minsk warned the well-known human righst activists, member of the European coalition “Free Belarus” Valery Schukin. Last month he was detained three times for handing out leaflets with a call to say “No” at the referendum on October 17.

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International coordinator of the ruling Social Democratic Party in Bundestag Markus Merkel is sure that the past hopes of the West for the changes in the countries of the former Communist bloc had failed. Different line of approach to the dictatorships, including the Belarusian one, is necessary. The opinion of the well-known German politician is published in today Berlin newspaper “Die Tageszeitung”, Radio Svaboda informs.

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Investigators on Wednesday notified Mikhail Marinich’s defense that they had wrapped up the inquiry into the case. As Vera Stremkovskaya, the politician’s lawyer, told BelaPAN, the defense will study the case file and petition the Committee for State Security (KGB), the agency in charge of the probe, to drop the charges against Mr. Marinich.

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Independent observers plan to unveil a final report on this past October’s parliamentary elections and national referendum on November 15. The report contains information on the vote collected by a 3,500-strong independent monitoring team between July 1 and November 1 in each of the nation’s 110 electoral districts, one of the observers, Nikolai Astreiko, told BelaPAN.

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Human Rights Center “Viasna” prepares “Preliminary monitoring on facts of tortures and other inhumane treatment towards citizens of Belarus”, based on the principles of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).

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President George W. Bush has asked U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar to represent him in Ukraine during the November 21, 2004 run-off election between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko. In August 2001, President Bush asked Lugar to be the official representative of United States at the 10th anniversary of Ukrainian independence. On Monday, November 15 at 12 noon, Lugar will hold a press conference on the Ukrainian elections. At the press conference he will also announce new Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction legislation that he will introduce. The press conference will be in the Senate Radio Gallery of the U.S. Capitol. “With democratic forces challenged in Russia and Belarus, the West must commit itself to ensuring a free and fair electoral process in Ukraine. This is a true turning point in Ukraine’s history that could have widespread effects beyond its borders and the region", Lugar said

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The Belarus Defense Ministry on Wednesday denied allegations that Belarussian mercenaries were involved in an assault on French peacekeepers in Ivory Coast that claimed nine French lives. Earlier, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the assault had been a planned act carried out by Belarussian mercenaries who piloted two Sukhoi Su-25 planes.

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Vladimir Naumov, Belarus’ minister of internal affairs, and his Russian counterpart, Rashid Nurgaliyev, on Wednesday were scheduled to sign a 2005 program of cooperation between the two countries’ ministries.

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