[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5970 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5970

To amend the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 to reauthorize that Act, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 6, 2008

  Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. 
    McIntyre, Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida, Mr. McCotter, Mr. 
    Pallone, Mr. Holt, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. McGovern, and Mr. Davis of 
  Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the 
   Judiciary and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 to reauthorize that Act, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Belarus Democracy Reauthorization 
Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO REAUTHORIZATION OF THE BELARUS DEMOCRACY ACT OF 
              2004.

    The Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109-480; 22 U.S.C. 
5811 note) is amended--
            (1) in section 2--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``the Republic 
                of''; and
                    (B) by striking paragraphs (3) through (11) and 
                inserting the following new paragraphs:
            ``(3) The Government of Belarus has subjected thousands of 
        pro-democratic political activists to frequent harassment, 
        beatings, and jailings, particularly as a result of their 
        attempts to peacefully exercise their right to freedom of 
        assembly and association.
            ``(4) The Government of Belarus has attempted to maintain a 
        monopoly over the country's information space, targeting 
        independent media, including independent journalists, for 
        systematic reprisals and elimination, while suppressing the 
        right to freedom of speech and expression of those dissenting 
        from the regime of Aleksandr Lukashenka.
            ``(5) The Government of Belarus has mounted a systematic 
        campaign of harassment, repression, and closure of 
        nongovernmental organizations, including independent trade 
        unions and associations of entrepreneurs, and this crackdown 
        has created a climate of fear that inhibits the development of 
        civil society and social solidarity.
            ``(6) The Government of Belarus has increasingly subjected 
        leaders and members of ethnic and religious minorities to 
        harassment, including the imposition of heavy fines, denying 
        permission to meet for religious services, prosecutions, and 
        jail terms for activities in the practice of their faith.
            ``(7) The Government of Belarus has attempted to silence 
        dissent by persecuting human rights and pro-democracy activists 
        with threats, firings, expulsions, beatings and other forms of 
        intimidation, and restrictions on freedom of movement and 
        prohibition of international travel.
            ``(8) The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenka, has 
        established himself in power by orchestrating an illegal and 
        unconstitutional referendum that enabled him to impose a new 
        constitution, abolishing the duly-elected parliament, the 13th 
        Supreme Soviet, installing a largely powerless National 
        Assembly, extending his term in office, and removing applicable 
        term limits.
            ``(9) The Government of Belarus failed to make a convincing 
        effort to solve the cases of disappeared opposition figures 
        Yuri Zakharenka, Viktor Gonchar, and Anatoly Krasovsky and 
        journalist Dmitry Zavadsky, even though credible allegations 
        and evidence links top officials of the Government to these 
        disappearance.
            ``(10) In 2006, the Government of Belarus conducted 
        presidential elections that failed to meet standards of the 
        Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for 
        democratic elections, and the numerous detentions and arbitrary 
        use of state power which accompanied the elections showed the 
        disregard of the Government of Belarus for the basic rights to 
        freedom of assembly, association, and expression, and 
        reinforced doubts regarding the willingness of the Government 
        of Belarus to tolerate political competition.
            ``(11) In 2008, the Government of Belarus released some 
        political prisoners who had been imprisoned or served 
        `corrective labor' sentences because of their political 
        activity.
            ``(12) Aleksandr Kozulin, an opposition leader whom the 
        Social Democratic Party nominated in 2006 as its candidate for 
        President of Belarus, remains in prison, where he continues to 
        serve a five and a half year term for his political activity.
            ``(13) The Department of State, Department of the Treasury, 
        and other executive branch agencies have heretofore made 
        effective use of this Act to promote the purposes of this Act, 
        as stated in section 3 of this Act.'';
            (2) in section 3--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``call upon'' and 
                inserting ``continue to call for'';
                    (B) in paragraphs (2) and (3)--
                            (i) by inserting ``continue to'' before 
                        ``support'' each place it appears; and
                            (ii) by striking ``the Republic of'' each 
                        place it appears;
                    (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ``seek and'' and 
                inserting ``continue to'';
                    (D) in paragraph (5)--
                            (i) by inserting ``continue to'' before 
                        ``refuse''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``fatally'' and inserting 
                        ``fundamentally'';
                    (E) in paragraph (6)--
                            (i) by inserting ``continue to'' before 
                        ``refuse''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``and'' at the end;
                    (F) in paragraph (7)--
                            (i) by inserting ``continue to'' before 
                        ``work''; and
                            (ii) by striking the period at the end and 
                        inserting ``; and''
                    (G) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
            ``(8) to remain open to reevaluating United States policy 
        toward Belarus as warranted by demonstrable progress made by 
        the Government of Belarus consistent with the aims of this Act 
        as stated in this section.'';
            (3) in section 4--
                    (A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ``the 
                Republic of'';
                    (B) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ``radio and 
                television'' and inserting ``radio, television, and 
                Internet''; and
                    (C) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ``2007 and 
                2008'' and inserting ``2007 through 2010'';
            (4) in section 5--
                    (A) in the section heading, by striking ``radio and 
                television'' and inserting ``radio, television, and 
                internet'';
                    (B) in subsection (a), by striking ``radio and 
                television'' and inserting ``radio, television, and 
                internet''; and
                    (C) in subsection (b)--
                            (i) by inserting ``, and such sums as may 
                        be necessary for fiscal year 2009 and each 
                        subsequent fiscal year for Internet 
                        broadcasting,''; and
                            (ii) by inserting before the period at the 
                        end the following: ``, including broadcasting 
                        by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Voice 
                        of America, and European Radio for Belarus and 
                        Belsat'';
            (5) in section 6--
                    (A) in subsection (b)--
                            (i) in paragraph (4), by inserting 
                        ``student activists, ethnic minority and'' 
                        before ``religious organizations''; and
                            (ii) in paragraph (5), by inserting before 
                        the period at the end the following: ``and 
                        violations of human rights'';
            (6) by redesignating section 9 as section 8; and
            (7) in section 8, as so redesignated--
                    (A) by striking paragraph (1);
                    (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as 
                paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively; and
                    (C) in paragraph (3)(B)(i), by striking ``and 
                prosecutors'' and inserting ``, prosecutors, and heads 
                of professional associations and educational 
                institutions''.
                                 <all>