Initiators of Days of Belarusian solidarity called upon citizens of Belarus to express solidarity by giving voice for the New President on March 19, 2006.«We call upon all the citizens of Belarus to show solidarity at polling stations, and to cast a vote for the New President of the country. We also support the idea to meet the results of voting together at October Square in Minsk on March 19, at 8 p.m., as is common in all democratic countries», -- initiators of Days of solidarity declare on web-page www.solidarity16.org.
Opposition presidential candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich accused the country`s authorities of lacking respect for people and making them feel beggars in his campaign speech broadcast uncensored by the First Belarusian Radio Channel on the morning of February 27.
Presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin has petitioned the Constitutional Court to examine the legality of Aleksandr Lukashenko`s reelection bid. In his appeal to the court, the educator-turned-politician questions the constitutionality of the Belarusian leader`s edict, dated September 7, 2004, that called a controversial plebiscite on lifting the two-term limit on the presidency for the following month.
On February 26 in Belazyorsk policemen have detained an activist of the youth resistance movement Artsyom Hovin. Policemen accused Zubr activist of graffiti making. The guy was cruelly beaten up in a district police department. Artsyom Hovin was placed to a surgery department of Belazyorsk town hospital and diagnosed a brain concussion.
On February 27 the court of Maskouski district sentenced an activist of the Belarusian Popular Front Party Zmitser Kaspyarovich to 5 months of arrest. An oppositionist tried to replace an official red—green flag on Minsk city executive committee by a national white-red-white flag. The defence considers the ruling to Kaspyarovich extremely harsh. “The court has given a wrong classification to Kaspyarovich’s actions. And even considering the classification given by the court, an extremely harsh sentence had been passed to him,” told a lawyer Pavel Sapelka to the Charter’97 press center after the trial.
The largest Czech newspaper “MF Dnes” touches upon the Belarusian-Czech diplomatic scandal in the article “Belarusian agents threaten the Czech”, as Radio Svaboda reports.
February 11-21, the Belarusian Association of Journalists presented the 4th bulletin on Mass Media monitoring “Media coverage of Presidential election 2006 in Belarus”.
February 26, three friends of Young Front - Aleg Korban, Barys Garetski and Paval Figuryn - were exonerated from the detention ward in Akrestsina Street after the 10-day administrative arrest for the solidarity action of February 16.
Saligorsk group of Young Front held a piquet of support for Alyaxandr Milinkevich at the town Central market. Saligorsk YF leaders Dzianis Karnou and Ivan Shyla hung out a poster “Milinkevich - He Can Work, He Loves Belarus, He Knows What To Do”.
The foreign ministry of Belarus expressed disappointment at Friday’s talks with David Kramer, deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs at the US Department of State. “We did not hear from him any serious proposals regarding the problems in existence in the bilateral relationship and the development of cooperation in areas meeting mutual interests,” commented Andrei Popov, spokesman for the ministry. “He voiced for us a standard set of evasions and conditions. There was an impression that the representative of the State Department either was not ready for a serious talk or did not have the necessary powers.”
Aleksandr Milinkevich, united opposition forces` presidential contender, promised that his camp would not let "anyone steal our victory" in the coming election. In his first-ever campaign rally in Minsk, the candidate stressed that March 19, the main voting day, would be crucial for the country`s fate.
Minsk, 26 February. Aleksandr Milinkevich, united opposition forces` presidential candidate, visited Vitebsk, Novopolotsk and Polotsk on February 25 to hold meetings with voters in the framework of his campaign tour of the provinces.
The central election commission has decided to take no action in response to Wednesday`s televised address by presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin to the voters, Nikolai Lozovik, secretary of the commission, told BelaPAN.
Belarus, translated, means "White Russia." This quaint and poetic name, I believe, is quite well suited to my country. "White," here, means clean. The country’s quiet charm can penetrate a traveler`s soul, subtly, gradually, through a soft play of the morning sky over a vague horizon, through its vast velvet expanse fields, through an overpowering balmy air of century-old pine forests.
On February 24 during a visit to Suvorov academy Alyaksandr Lukashenka stated that he would not treat international observers at the elections “excessively considerately”. “Why should we be afraid of those observers? They have been warned, they know our laws. That is why any misstep, and you are not here tomorrow. We would handle them without gloves,” Lukashenka said.
On February 27 in Washington, in the White House a meeting of the U.S. President George Bush with the wives of abducted opponents of Belarusian regime, leaders of the civil initiative “We Remember” Iryna Krasouskaya and Svyatlana Zavadskaya. Stephen Hadley, Assistant to the President For National Security Affairs, is to take part in the meeting.
Dear Colleagues. Remember, please, you are expected to refer to the Charter`97 Press Center when using the site materials. News export , javascript-informer
, javascript-informer
