[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 38 (Thursday, March 30, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SUPPRESSION OF PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATORS IN BELARUS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 29, 2000

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, March 9, I 
chaired a hearing of the Helsinki Commission at which we heard 
compelling and disturbing testimony about the deterioration of human 
rights and democracy in Belarus. I was pleased to have as one of our 
witnesses Anatoly Lebedka, Deputy Chairman of Belarus' legitimate 
parliament, disbanded by Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka 
following an illegitimate 1996 referendum.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Lebedka was one of some 500 people arrested last 
weekend, during a peaceful pro-democracy demonstration in Miensk. He 
was reportedly beaten and spent two days in detention before he was 
released. He is scheduled to go to trial on April 4. Also detained 
without explanation were more than 30 Belarusian, Russian and Polish 
journalists. Film shot by press photographers was reportedly 
confiscated. Aleh Hrudzilovich, a journalist with the opposition 
newspaper Nasha Svaboda and Radio Liberty who was initially detained on 
March 25, was summoned for interrogation on March 27, handcuffed, and 
then hit several times in the face while being transported by police to 
a detention center. He was released later that day. Other detainees 
also reportedly suffered physical abuse by the police. Several 
demonstrators have been put on trial, and some have already been 
sentenced to short-term detentions.
  Mr. Speaker, during the Helsinki Commission hearing, I asked Mr. 
Lebedka about the scheduled March demonstrations, where he expressed 
the fear that there might be deliberate provocations by the police, as 
had been the case at a Freedom March rally last October. Fortunately, a 
large peaceful protest held on March 15 was held without any problems. 
According to many observers, including Mr. Lebedka, the growing number 
of participants in the officially-approved 30,000 strong March 15 
demonstration prompted Lukashenka to take harsh measures against the 
March 25 demonstrators. Indeed, this comports with Lukashenka's recent 
warning that protestors who ``get out of line'' will have ``the 
stuffing'' beat out of them.
  Mr. Speaker, the suppression of the March 25 demonstration is yet 
another illustration of the Lukashenka regime's disregard for 
fundamental human rights, including freedom of assembly and 
association, and information. It is another among a long list of 
outrages perpetrated by Lukashenka upon the people of Belarus. It is 
yet another in a pattern of violations of human rights commitments, 
which Belarus freely undertook when it joined the OSCE in 1992.
  Mr. Speaker, I wish to reiterate my strong concern for the safety of 
Anatoly Lebedka and all the other pro-democracy activists in Belarus, 
and I look forward to the day when democracy will flourish someday in 
Belarus.

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