BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Jun 8, 2005, 20:16 GMT

Embattled Polish NGO in Belarus urges prosecutors to react to newspaper poem

Minsk, 8 June: The chairman of the Union of Belarusian Poles (UBP), Anzhalika Borys, has sent a letter to the Belarusian military prosecutor and the prosecutor-general in connection with the publication of the poem by Yawhen Nyafyodaw "The ghost of Condoleezza [reference to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice] is roaming around Europe" that was published in the 2 June issue of the [Defence Ministry's] newspaper Vo Slavu Rodiny. Belapan learnt this from the UBP press secretary, Andrzej Pisalnik.

[Passage omitted: details of the newspaper publication see report by Belapan news agency, Minsk, in English 1455 gmt 6 Jun 05.]

"The UBP leadership believes that the poem by Nyafyodaw is stirring up ethnic hatred and calls for attacks against the Polish community. The following expressions in the poem testify to this fact: `brother, suit yourself with a cudgel' and `our `fifth columns' are running under enemy's banners'," Pisalnik said.

He said the organization's council decided to appeal to the Prosecutor's Office, as the UBP has no sufficient funds to launch court proceedings or to hire a lawyer. "We suggest that the Prosecutor's Office investigate into the aforementioned facts and launch criminal proceedings under Article 130 of the Belarusian Penal Code against those "who stir up ethnic discord among the country's citizens", Pisalnik stressed.

[The letter comes after the Belarusian Justice Ministry's decision to declare the recent UBP congress illegitimate. The move touched off a diplomatic spat with Poland, in which Minsk accused Warsaw of fomenting dissent against President Alyaksandr Lukashenka among ethnic Poles in Belarus. On 18 May, Belarus gave a Polish diplomat a month to leave the country, and Poland subsequently said it was expelling a Belarusian diplomat.]

Source: Belapan news agency, Minsk, in Russian 1729 gmt 8 Jun 05

BBC Mon KVU 080605 ch/vk

Source:

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/mediamonitor/article_1008488.php/Embattled_Polish_NGO_in_Belarus_urges_prosecutors_to_react_to_newspaper_poem


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