BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

9. 11. 2005

Roma Defenders Of Anzalika Borys are warned by Belorussian Authorities

The Assembly of Belorussian Pro-Democratic NGO's and on-line news service Chartija 97 have published information that the Minsk city prosecutor's office made an official warning to activists of a number of Belorussian national and religious minorities. In August he groups sent a letter to the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko with an appeal to protect Anzalika Borys, who is the legitimate head of the Union of Poles in Belarus. The Union of Poles is not recognized by the authorities.

On August 6th in Minsk, there was a meeting of prominent representatives of German, Polish, Ukrainian, Roma and Tatar minorities together with activists of Catholic youth and Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

They signed an appeal to Mr Lukashenko with the demand to stop illegal actions against activists and leaders of the Union of Poles in Belarus and to start a dialogue with the legal leadership of the organization headed by Anzalika Borys. The Presidential Administration gave no answer to the appeal.

However, information spread that at the beginning of October the prosecutor's office launched an investigation based on the instructions of the Committee of Religions and Nationalities. According to Nicolas Kalinin, a well-known activist of the Roma movement and lawyer, participants of the August meeting were recently called to the city prosecutor's office. The authorities were unable to find Mr Kalinin because he was at a seminar in the Czech Republic.

"When I came back I went to city prosecutor's office to the head of the Department of Performance of Legal Acts, Paval Jelisiejeu," says Nikola Kalinin. "I was asked questions about my participation in the meeting of August 6. They accused me of acting on behalf of the 'Belarusian Roma Diaspora' organization, but I never acted on the behalf of this organization and have nothing to do with it."

According to Jelisiejeu, "on the next day of the adoption of the appeal Aleh Kaslouski, the leader of the Belarusian Roma Diaspora, came to the republican prosecutor's office with an official claim against me and demanded to take measures against me."

On August 11, the participants of the August meeting received an 'official warning' about inadmissibility of violation of the Law of the Republic of Belarus signed by Mr. Siemizon, deputy prosecutor of Minsk. In addition to the mentioned accusation of acting on behalf of Belarussian Roma organization, Kalinin was charged with acting on behalf of an unregistered organization (multinational and multi-confessional initiative 'Zhoda'). "However, this does not correspond to the facts. I have never acted on behalf of this organization," says Kalinin, "Moreover no program documents were adopted at this meeting, and the consultations between the participants were to be continued. The information about the creation of an initiative that appeared on a web page was unexpected for us. It was submitted by Alaksandar Zialko, a participant of the meeting, who declared that he was 'the executive secretary of the initiative', however no one elected him."

According to Nicolas Kalinin "in spite of strong pressure on people who signed the appeal in protection of Anzalika Borys no one has retracted his or her signature and no one is going to do that."

Lawyer Jury Cavusau cmmented on the situation stating that "in this case we are observers of extreme persecution of nationality. Even extraordinary persecution - a person is forced to give up his nationality. Why can't Kalinin speak in public on behalf of Roma minority if he belongs to it?"

According to the CIA's World Factbook, since 1995 the president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has steadily consolidated his power through authoritarian means and governmental restrictions continue on freedom of speech and the press, peaceful assembly, and religion. The CIA's world Factbook states that the Belarussian regime, characterized as republic in name, is in fact a dictatorship.

(Dzeno Association)

Source:

http://www.dzeno.cz/?c_id=9101

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