"In addition, according to Charter '97, the center never managed to find a suitable office for the paper. Kutseyna was known for its critical reports on the political and economic situation in the region and country and was much disliked for that by the local and central authorities."
Source: The BelaPAN News Service, No. 68; Thursday, January 20, 2000; 1:20 p.m.
"Among the guests of the March 9 Krok-2 show focusing on the problems of filmmaking in Belarus was Yury Khashchevatsky, the author of the An Ordinary President documentary about Aleksandr Lukashenko."
"Mr. Beklemishchev told the Khartiya-97 (Charter '97) human rights group that he taped the show on the afternoon of March 9 and it went on the air in the evening unedited and without any censorship."
" 'The reason for such a strong reaction to my program was probably the fact that the theme of filmmaking is closely interwoven with the country's economy withering day by day. The program participants, including Yury Khashchevatsky, whom I invited to the studio myself, did not hide that,' Mr. Beklemishchev was quoted as saying."
"Show participants criticized the authorities for their negative attitude to arts in general and the decaying Belarusian cinema. The journalist did not rule out that Mr. Khashchevatsky's remark, 'I flatly refuse to take money from this government' prompted the Belarusian Television administration to sack him."
"Mr. Beklemishchev said that in its dismissal order, the administration failed to state the article of the Labor Code, under which he was sacked. He filed a complaint with the Belarusian Association of Journalists, which is trying to persuade the Belarusian State Television and Radio Company to reinstate the ousted journalist."
Source: The BelaPAN News Service, No. 53; Wednesday, March 15, 2000; 5:20 p.m.
"Mr. Belenky, deputy chairman of the Zenon Poznyak-led Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front (CCR BPF), was severely beaten by police on Yakub Kolas Square in Minsk on March 25, when opponents of the Lukashenko government attempted to stage a demonstration. According to Mr. Belenky, executing an order to prevent the demonstration, several police officers attacked him, hit him in the face with a truncheon, put his jacket over his head, knocked him off his feet and kept kicking him."
"After the beating, Mr. Belenky was taken together with other detainees to an Internal Troops base, where a doctor diagnosed a brain concussion and gave him some pills. It was not until two days later that he was released from police custody. Mr. Belenky says that he had to spend days in the hospital."
"The opposition leader appealed the prosecutor's office of Minsk's Sovetsky district to bring criminal charges against the beaters. The complaint was rejected, although there was video footage of the beating and the beaters had been identified. Mr. Belenky was notified that there was no evidence suggesting that a crime had been committed against him."
"According to the opposition leader, he was not given access to material about his case until June 6. As Mr. Belenky told BelaPAN, the documents that he received from the prosecutor's office contained no testimony of any of the 10 witnesses whom he had asked to question. The prosecutor's reply was fully based on police officers' testimony, Mr. Belenky said. He called the prosecutor's decision "extremely cynical"."
"Mr. Belenky and his lawyer, Vera Stremkovskaya, intend to appeal to the Minsk City Prosecutor's Office."
Source: The BelaPAN News Service, No. 32; Wednesday, June 7, 2000; 9:40 p.m.