[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6307-6308]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1830
                          PROTESTS IN BELARUS

  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time 
of the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the 
disturbing reports that I have been hearing out of Belarus over the 
past 24 hours.
  Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, and 
also the day of the first major demonstration against President 
Lukashenko since the fraudulent elections on March 19. Early on 
Wednesday, opposition candidate Aleksander Milinkevich was brought to 
police headquarters before the rally and warned by the KGB the 
consequences of holding the rally and asked to sign a document stating 
that he knew what would happen should the rally continue.
  Mr. Milinkevich boldly refused. And then today around 12 p.m. in 
Minsk, Mr. Milinkevich was giving an interview to reporters when the 
police showed up and took him to the police station. He was charged 
with organizing an unsanctioned rally with regards to yesterday's rally 
in Minsk and received a 15-day sentence.
  Also this morning, two other UDF leaders, Sergiy Kalyakin, the 
Chairman of the Communist Party, and Alexander Bukhostov, leader of the 
Belarusian Labor Party, were summoned to the City Executive Committee 
of the Minsk Interior Affairs regarding their application to hold 
another prodemocratic rally in Minsk on May 1. They were then taken by 
police to the police department and charged with organizing yesterday's 
unsanctioned rally in Minsk. Mr. Bukhostov received 15 days in jail, 
and Mr. Kalyakin received 14 days.
  And perhaps the most terrible and intimidating incident I have heard 
of occurred yesterday prior to the rally in Minsk. Prior to a speech at 
the rally, opposition activist Anatoly Lebedko was kidnapped, beaten 
and interrogated for several hours by members of the KGB, which we can 
only assume was ordered by the office of President Lukashenko. Mr. 
Lebedko was given a message by these thugs when he was shoved out of 
the car outside of Minsk. All they had to say was, we hope you have 
drawn the appropriate conclusions from this.
  However, the conclusions that I and the Belarusian people have drawn 
is that despite these continued threats from Lukashenko, the spirit of 
freedom has not died in Belarus. All these people wanted to do was hold 
a peaceful rally to honor those Belarusians who died in the Chernobyl 
accident, and to come together as a country.

[[Page 6308]]

  President Lukashenko may have tried to stop the rally through these 
intimidation tactics, but even if only one person had shown up despite 
this ongoing threat of violence, it means that freedom lived within the 
hearts and minds of these people, and someday it will come to them 
again.
  I am proud to say, Mr. Speaker, that yesterday in Minsk, thousands of 
Belarusians rallied in support of freedom.

                          ____________________