Belarus: Charter 97 Leaders Attacked

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Subject: Belarus: Charter 97 Leaders Attacked

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Original sender: Felix Corley <[email protected]>

Belarus: Charter 97 Leaders Attacked


ILHR ALERT, February 8, 1999
 
FASCISTS ATTACK CHARTER 97 LEADERS IN MINSK; SANNIKOV HURT
 
New York, NY, February 7 - Activists from Charter 97 in Belarus, a
citizens' human rights movement working in partnership with the
International League for Human Rights, were attacked by fascist thugs
Saturday night in Minsk as they left their office. Andrei Sannikov,
Charter's international coordinator and a former deputy foreign
minister of Belarus, was beaten unconscious and suffered broken ribs,
a broken nose, bruises, and a concussion. Dmitry Bondarenko, a Charter
organizing committee member, was sprayed in the face with a mace
cannister, and Charter press secretary Oleg Bebenin was beaten in the
kidneys.
 
At approximately 9:00 p.m. on Feb. 5, Sannikov and Bondarenko left the
Charter office on Skaryna Avenue, a main thoroughfare in Minsk, and
proceeded toward Victory Square. They noticed some teen-aged youths,
wearing the distinctive black berets and swastika-like symbols on red
armbands and buttons typical of the "RNE," the Russian initials for
the Russian National Unity party founded in Russia. The youths had
arrayed themselves in twos and threes at intersections of the avenue,
and were handing out copies of "Russian Order," the RNE's newspaper.
When two youths thrust some leaflets at the Charter activists, there
was an exchange of words, and one punched Sannikov in the face. Then
Sannikov and Bondarenko descended into an underground passageway to
cross the street. When they emerged, 20 Barkashev followers converged
upon them, now with older men in their 20s joining the juveniles, and
beat and kicked them viciously. The Charter members heard an older man
of approximately 30, sporting camouflage fatigues and an RFE armband,
give directions to the youngsters, telling them whom to beat. The
assailants shouted "Zhidy," an anti-Semitic epithet, and swore in
Russian as they attacked the Charter activists, using fists, feet, and
a mace cannister.
 
Oleg Bebenin, press secretary of the Charter, subsequently left work
and came upon the melee. He tried to help his colleagues, and was
kicked and punched in the kidneys. A passer-by who said he was a
military officer tried to intervene to stop the attack, and was
himself beaten and knocked to the ground, and later left the scene. As
Sannikov lay on the street, Bondarenko ran for help to the nearby
offices of the Belarusian Popular Front, and Bebenin managed to get to
a nearby police academy to summon assistance. When they returned, the
RNE followers had fled. Although police presence in downtown Minsk is
ordinarily very heavy, and patrols are normally present on Skaryny, no
policemen could be found.
 
Passers-by eventually asked a police patrol car which cruised by the
scene to call for an ambulance but the car then left and apparently
failed to report the attack. Sannikov and Bebenin managed to get to a
hospital, where Sannikov was x-rayed and treated and both were
released. They are now recuperating at home. The hospital filed
reports to the district police.
 
Three Russian television stations that broadcast into Belarus have
covered the attack, although the Belarusian news channels, under the
president's control, have been silent.
 
On Jan. 29-30, the Charter 97 leaders were among the civic movements
and parties who joined an organizing committee to convene the Congress
of Democratic Forces, an effort to form a united opposition to the
growing tyranny of President Lukashenko. The Congress contested
Lukashenko's continuance in office after July 1999, and avowed to seek
presidential elections in May 1999 under the 1994 constitution,
abrogated by Lukashenko in 1996. President Lukashenko is believed to
have retaliated against the democratic opposition's Congress by
passing a decree last week requiring on all parties and trade unions
to re-register with authorities in the next six months.
 
The Belarusian branch of the Russian National Unity party, led by
Alexander Barkashev in neighboring Russia, has grown more active in
Belarus in recent weeks, even as Russian officials are now attempting
to curb the fascistic movement. Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the
Moscow chief of police have cracked down again on the
ultranationalists last week, since banning an RNE march in December.
Apparently, the self-proclaimed fascist movement has found a greater
reception in Belarus, where such extremist manifestations have been
tolerated under President Lukashenko, known for publicly expressing
his admiration of Hitler, and for supporting rallies of conservative
activists who favor a merger with Russia and a restoration of the
former USSR.
 
Barkashev's organization, founded in 1990, is reported by Russian
human rights groups who monitor the growth of extremist movements to
have thousands of followers in dozens of Russian cities. They are
known for their distinctive Nazi-like emblems and Nazi-style salute,
and have a paramilitary youth wing which human rights activists claim
are responsible for attacks on Jews, Caucasians, and Roma. Barkashev
has publicly announced at rallies that "Jews, democrats, and
Freemasons" are the enemies of the RNE, which seeks the imposition of
a dictatorship of ethnic Russians in a national-socialist system.

According to international and local wire reports from Reuters, JTA,
and Itar-Tass, Moscow's police chief fired two senior police officers
last week for failing to stop a demonstration of Barkashev's
followers. Police claimed they had no grounds to detain the
self-acknowledged fascists; Russian TV showed a policeman even
apologizing to the marchers for briefly halting them. Facing mounting
pressure from the international community as well as concern from
within Russia, Russian prosecutors announced recently that they may
reverse an earlier decision not to open up a criminal investigation
into Barkashev and his movement.
 
* * *
 
The International League for Human Rights, now in its 58th year, works
to promote human rights through international fora and to "defend the
defenders," those particularly at risk for their human rights
advocacy. In 1998, the League formed a partnership with Charter 97 to
distribute information about violation of human rights in Belarus.
 
For more information, in New York: Paul LeGendre, Belarus Program
Coordinator, (212)-684-1221, ext. 103 or [email protected]; in Minsk,
Oleg Bebenin, Charter 97 Press Secretary, 011-375-172-84-94-52 or
[email protected]

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