Liberals, unionists speak of repression in Belarus (fwd)

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Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 10:21:02 -0500 (CDT)
From: Chegitz Guevara <mluziett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Conference iww.news" <iww-news@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
    Marxism 2 <marxism2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
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Subject: Liberals, unionists speak of repression in Belarus (fwd)


Marc, "the Chegitz," Luzietti
personal homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett
political homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett/chegitz.html

fnord

Liberals, unionists speak of repression in Belarus
    By Yuri Svirko
    MINSK, May 15 (Reuter) - Liberals and trade unionists in
Belarus on Wednesday denounced the deportation of the head of
Poland's Solidarity trade union and accused the country's
leaders of resorting increasingly to repressive measures.
    The Interior Ministry said Marian Krzaklewski and three
other Poles were detained on Tuesday for five hours and expelled
for organising an illegal public meeting by a school - an
offence with a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.
    ``They were detained and a decision was taken to deport them
>from the territory of Belarus,'' ministry spokesman Sergei
Khripach said by telephone.
    Poland's Foreign Ministry condemned the action as a
violation of basic rights which could threaten relations with
the former Soviet republic on its eastern border.
    The deportation coincided with the latest protest against
hardline President Alexander Lukashenko's plans to proceed with
a form of union with Russia. About 5,000 marched peacefully
through central Minsk to demand the release of two comrades
detained after a much larger rally last month.
    Members of independent trade unions, who invited Krzaklewski
to Minsk, scoffed at the official explanation of the detention
and expulsion.
    ``There were eight of them in plain clothes. We were all
grabbed and bundled into a minibus,'' Belarussian unionist
Valery Buivol, also held for a time, told a news conference.
    ``Krzaklewski protested but no one listened. They threatened
to put handcuffs on him. The Poles can now tell the world about
the dictatorship, the idiotic regime in place in Belarus.''
    Viktor Makarchuk, a unionist on the Minsk underground where
a strike was broken up by police last year, said Lukashenko's
crackdown on unions, the press and his liberal opponents
constituted a recipe for deep social division.
    ``We have now something looking like the run-up to a civil
war. Lukashenko is placing a time bomb with a long fuse
underneath our society,'' he said. ``People will put up with
economic crisis, but not with living in fear and humiliation.''
    During the news conference, another trade unionist, Gennady
Bykov, was confronted by a policeman laying formal charges
against him for taking part in the meeting with Krzaklewski.
    Two members of the Belarussian Popular Front (BNF) remain on
hunger strike in prison, facing serious charges after a
40,000-strong rally originally intended to mark the 10th
anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in neighbouring Ukraine.
    A Front spokesman said Yuri Khodyka and Vyacheslav Sivchik
had each lost up to 20 kg (44 pounds) after refusing food for 17
days. They had rejected appeals from their families and comrades
to stop their fast.
    Seven Ukrainian nationalists also face serious charges after
protesters overturned cars and clashed with police at the rally.
Several dozen people were jailed for up to a month.
    Most of Belarus's 10.2 million residents, reeling from
post-Soviet economic collapse, favour closer ties with Russia.
    But Lukashenko's signing of a treaty last month creating a
``community'' with Russia has met increasing resistance.
    Liberals also denounce his suspension of trade unions,
dismissal of liberal newspaper editors, attempts to disrupt last
year's general election and pledges to ignore court rulings
against his decrees.
    ``The authorities are using repression as a show of strength
to intimidate their opponents,'' said liberal Stanislav
Shushkevich, the first leader of post-Soviet Belarus. ``This
deportation is just the latest link in a long chain of events.''
 ^REUTER@
Reut09:43 05-15-96

Reuter N:Copyright 1996, Reuters News Service





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