[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 24 (Friday, March 4, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S2082]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      BELARUS--OUTPOST OF TYRANNY

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, over the course of the last few months, 
we have witnessed dramatic events in one of Europe's largest countries, 
Ukraine. The Orange Revolution has clearly shown that people power can 
bring about peaceful democratic change some thought was not possible in 
a former Soviet state. As a result, and with the support of the United 
States, Europe and international organizations such as the Organization 
for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE, Ukraine is on the path to 
freedom and democracy. Notwithstanding the formidable challenges that 
remain to overcome the legacy of the past, Ukraine now has a real 
chance at consolidating its democracy and further integrating into the 
Euro-Atlantic community.
  Unfortunately, the news out of Belarus, Ukraine's neighboring fellow 
eastern Slavic country to the north stands in stark contrast to the 
encouraging news coming out of Ukraine. Secretary Rice, in her 
confirmation testimony, characterized Belarus, along with North Korea, 
Iran, Cuba, Burma, and Zimbabwe as an outpost of tyranny and asserted 
that America stands with oppressed people on every continent. Belarus, 
under Alexander Lukashenka's now 10-year repressive rule, has the worst 
human rights record of any country in Europe. Lukashenka's regime has 
increasingly violated human rights and freedoms and has made a mockery 
of commitments that Belarus freely undertook when it joined the OSCE in 
1992.
  Nothing has changed for the better since last October's fundamentally 
flawed parliamentary elections and rigged referendum allowing 
Lukashenka unlimited terms as president. In November, Lukashenka 
appointed Viktor Sheiman as head of the powerful Presidential 
Administration, despite credible evidence linking Sheiman to the 
disappearances of opposition leaders and a journalist in 1999 and 2000.
  The harassment and persecution of civil society has intensified. A 
top opposition figure, Mikhail Marinich, was sentenced in late December 
on the charge of stealing, of all things, U.S. government property--in 
this case, computers--despite the fact that the U.S. Embassy in Minsk 
makes no claims against Marinich. Clearly, Lukashenka wants to 
eliminate Marinich as a potential candidate for the 2006 presidential 
elections.
  Other opposition leaders--Valery Levaneuski and Alyaksandr Vasilyeu--
continue to serve terms in a minimum security colony after having been 
found guilty of ``public slander'' of the Belarusian leader. Their 
crime? Distributing leaflets urging people to take part in an 
unauthorized rally. The leaflets contained a satirical poem about 
Lukashenka. Another example of Belarus' reluctance to promote human 
rights is the recent refusal to grant a visa to former OSCE 
Parliamentary Assembly Chairman and Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian 
Severin, who now serves as the UN Human Rights Commission's Special 
Rapporteur on Belarus. The Belarusian regime has also clamped down on 
independent NGOs and prodemocracy political parties with Kafkaesque 
legal requirements and has mounted a full-fledged assault on 
independent trade unions. Problems are being experienced by religious 
communities attempting to operate freely.
  As Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, charged with monitoring and 
encouraging compliance by all 55 participating States with OSCE 
agreements, I call upon the Belarusian authorities to live up to their 
freely-undertaken commitments with respect to democracy, human rights 
and the rule of law. Last October, President Bush signed into law the 
Belarus Democracy Act, which had been introduced in the Senate by then 
Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Campbell and in the House by 
commission co-chair Chris Smith, stating:

       We welcome this legislation as a means to bolster friends 
     of freedom and to nurture the growth of democratic values, 
     habits, and institutions within Belarus. The fate of Belarus 
     will rest not with a dictator, but with the students, trade 
     unionists, civic and religious leaders, journalists, and all 
     citizens of Belarus claiming freedom for their nation.

  It is essential that we in the Congress, together with the 
administration and the OSCE, keep faith with the courageous people of 
Belarus struggling to ensure freedom and democratic values for their 
long-suffering country.

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