In the courts of Maskouski and Partyzanski districts politically motivated trials finished. 10 activists of Milinkevich’s campaign have been sentenced to 15 days of arrest for participation in the meeting of Alyaksandr Milinkevich with voters. Having infringed the Electoral Code, judges Nadzeja Ravutskaya and Mikalay Trubnikau charged the activists with organizing and holding “unsanctioned rallies”. The leader of the Belarusian Popular Front party, an electioneering agent of the single candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich, activists of the campaign Alyaksandr Zyalko, Pyotr Tolar, Uladzimir Hrydzin, Alyaksei Makovich, Dzmitry Kudrautsau, Syarhei Lyantsevich, Artsyom Litvinka, Pyotr Babareka and Alyaksandr Paulouski have been sentenced to 15 days of arrest. Human rights activists claim that these trials have shown once again that there is no fair trail in Belarus. Milinkevich’s HQ representatives are going to continue meetings with voters, as they are completely legal.

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Relatives of the activists of campaign headquarters of the single democratic presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich, who have been sentenced to 15 days of arrest by the court of Partyzanski district today, have written down the names of riot policemen, who had violated the law yesterday and detained activists during the meeting of Milinkevich with voters. Today these people have acted as prosecution witness. Judge Mikalay Trubnikau, in violation of the Electoral Code, sentenced Alyaksandr Zyalko, Dzmitry Kudrautsau, Syarhei Lyantsevich and Artsyom Litvinka to 15 days of arrest.

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In Vitsebsk region policemen stopped to detain activists of the election campaign for the single democratic presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich. The Charter’97 press center was informed about that by the head of Vitsebsk campaignheadquarters Khristafor Zhelyapau.

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Countries in which power is concentrated in the hands of rulers that cannot be held accountable for their actions were among those cited as having the poorest records on human rights in the U.S. Department of State’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released March 8. Such regimes, which include the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea), Burma, Iran, Zimbabwe, Cuba, China and Belarus, seriously restrict fundamental human rights enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, religion and movement, the State Department said in the introduction to the report. The full text about Belarus.

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According to press-service of “Young Front” graffiti with slogan “We want the new!” appeared in Lida. The same slogan appears daily in dozens of Belarusian towns. The youth felt the air of changes and it is moving forward in spite of brutal confrontation of authorities.

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Outrageous contempt of law continues in Minsk. Activists of the HQ of the single democratic presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich Alyaksandr Zyalko and Dzmitry Kudrautsau have been sentenced to 15 days of arrest for their participation in the meeting of Alyaksandr Milinkevich with voters. The verdict was passed by the court of Partyzanski district of Minsk, judge Mikalai Trubnikau. In the court of Maskouski district judge Nadzeja Rautskaya has sentenced Uladzinmir Hrydzin to 15 days of arrest.

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Information about abductions of opposition leaders and a journalist in Belarus is disseminated in the cities of Poland. In the busy spots posters with portraits of Belarusian high-ranking officials and law-enforcing agencies’ representatives, suspected of implication in these crimes, are pasted. Such posters can be seen in other countries of Europe as well.

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Lidiya Yermoshina, head of the central election commission, rejected a proposal by Aleksandr Milinkevich who suggested that all presidential candidates should undergo a mental health examination.

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Only the observers who have been invited by the Belarusian side and granted appropriate accreditation have the right to observe Belarus` elections, Andrei Popov, spokesman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, said at a briefing in Minsk on Thursday.

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Mecheslav Grib, the campaign manager of presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin, has requested the Supreme Court to remove Aleksandr Lukashenko from the ballot.

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The European parliament is preparing a new list of Belarusian officials, for whom the entrance to the European Union would be prohibited. The new list would be prepared by the European People’s Party, which has the largest faction in the European parliament. The politicians propose to extend the number of Belarusian officials, policemen, KGB officers, state-run media workers, for whom the entry to the territory of the 25 countries of the European Union would be banned, from 7 to 47, the Radio Svaboda informs.

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In the court of Maskouski district of Minsk two first trials over activists of Milinkevich’s campaign headquarters. The court has violated all laws and sentenced the activists Pyotr Babareka and Alyaksandr Paulouski to 15 days of arrest for taking part in the meeting of Milinkevich with voters. Activists were charged with “unsanctioned rally participation”. “We are observing a violation of electoral code. For the first time people in Belarus are sentenced for 15 days of arrest. The authorities are in hysteria, one cannot explain it in other way,” told a lawyer, human rights activist, an agent of Alyaksandr Milinkevich, Uladzimir Labkovich, commenting the trials to the Charter’97 press center.

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“I think that on March 19 demonstrations of Belarusian citizens will be extensive and marked. Revolution is done in Minsk. And the first days are critically important from the point of view of how many Minsk dwellers will take to the streets, to defend their right to take part in flair elections. People from regions usually join in a few days, even if no pickets on the roads are present. That is why, depending on the way how Minsk dwellers would vote, how they would react on March 19-20, the development of the situation would depend to a large extent. I think that 20-30 thousand of people would be enough for this colossus with feet of clay, the Belarusian regime, which is fearful, but rotten inside, to fall apart,” told the well-known journalist Pavel Sheremet in an interview to the Voice of America, commenting on the situation in Belarus.

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Democratic forces united candidate for the President’s post Alyaxandr Milinkevich has held a press conference today at the entrance of the Minsk city Maskouski disctrtict court, where trials on Milinkevich’s charge d’affaires, BNF party leader Vintsuk Viachorka and on 8 activists of Milinkevich’s team accused of absolutely legal meeting with voters are to be held. “The election campaign is cynical and illegal, but they will not scare us. We will fight till the victory”, - Alyaxandr Milinkevich said.

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The Human Rights Report 2005 released by the US State Department provides a comprehensive overview of the status of individual rights and freedoms in 196 countries from around the world. A key underpinning of the report is that the promotion of democracy is essential to providing an environment in which human rights can flourish.

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Presidential candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich and his wife on Wednesday visited with a journalist who has received treatment in a Minsk hospital after a brutal police attack last week.

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March 8, the Lower Chamber of the USA Congress adopted the resolution on the support for the Belarusian people’s efforts to restore democracy, law and respect for human rights. The resolution, upheld by 491 Congressmen, urges the Belarusian government to conduct free and just election on March 19, 2006.

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As the European Union administration said Wednesday, the EU must restrict sanctions against the Belarusian leadership in case the Presidential election is not democratic.

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One of the coordinators of the Zubr resistance movement Alyaksei Shydlouski was detained yesterday in Minsk. In the night an illegal search was carried out in his apartment. Unknown officers of the KGB (State Security Committee) stated that they are looking for a “bomb” in his apartment.

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“One more line has been crossed - a border to the cult of personality. I watched Belarusian TV channel, and almost had a stroke. ALL of our well-known singers and singing a song “Listen to Your Batka” (father). They are singing it all together, in a merry and cheerful way. The feeling resembles the feeling of the people who saw the cult of personality of a famous figure of German history growing,” such a letter was posted in one of the Belarusian blogs. The matter concerns a concert “For Belarus!” broadcast by the state-run TV channel yesterday. Notorious supporters of the dictator, Anatol Yarmolenka and his daughter Alesia with a band “Syabry” performed as well.

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