Opinion

One of the leaders of the civil campaign “European Belarus”, the chairman of the “Narodnaya Hramada” Mikola Statkevich calls upon people to take part in a European May Day meeting.

Tatsyana Tsishkevich: «I have gone through hardening by riot policemen’s truncheons and cells in Akrestsin Street detention center”. An activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Tatsyana Tsishkevich together with other participants of the Process of Fourteen has been sentenced to 2 years of correctional labour.

Hearings “Chernobyl today,“ dedicated to the situation in Belarus, were held in the European Parliament on 17 April. Members of the working group on Belarusian affairs, representatives of the European Commission, and delegations of democratic forces and civil society in Belarus took part in the hearing. The Charter’97 press center talks about the hearing in Brussels with Mikhail Marynich, former political prisoner and member of the organising committee of the civil campaign “European Belarus.”

An important feature of the PACE resolution is a call to officers of the law enforcement and legal bodies to understand they disregard law when organise political repressions.

One of the defendants of “the process over the 14” who are to stand trial today in the court of Tsentralny district of Minsk, is an activist of the civil campaign of the “European Belarus” Tatsyana Tsishkevich.

Palina and Paval Kuryanovich, activists of the civil campaign “European Belarus,” were released on 12 April. Brother and sister were detained at different protests actions. Paval was detained at the picket demanding to stop repressions by Chinese military forces in Tibet, Palina – at the action near the Russian embassy, where young Belarusians came with a poster “No to Russia, yes to European Union!”

“Closed discussion in the Belarusian “parliament” on air defence system building in Venezuela is in the line of war with the U.S. Someone is drawing anti-American line and trying to include a military component into there. It is apparently made for the U.S. to take Lukashenka’s regime seriously and to demand imposing of international sanctions,” Andrei Sannikov, international coordinator of Charter’97, thinks.

Is it strange to think about freedom, coming home late night and looking at an unfinished cup of tea? No. My sister and I were once seeking for definition for “freedom”…

Participants of the rally on March 25 are started to be released. The demonstrators told the Chareter’97 press center what expected them after detention, told the activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Yauhen Afnagel.

“Belarus takes a back seat in the European history, it didn’t understand that neither nuclear Russia nor average by European standards Belarus won’t be able to build relations with the West on their conditions,” Andrei Sannikov, international coordinator of Charter’97 thinks.