Belarusian Soros Foundation - further destiny?

Date: Wed, 07 May 97 00:41:29 -0500
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: Belarusian Soros Foundation - further destiny?

Dear colleagues, 

The following message was posted several weeks ago. Is somebody aware of
further developments? 

Boris 

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    From: [email protected] (Center for Civil Society International)
    To: [email protected] (Multiple recipients of list)
    Subject: Belarusian Soros Foundation Under Attack
    Date: Fri, 21 Mar

    
         Belarusian Soros Foundation Under Attack
    
    On March 16 Peter Byrne, director of the Belarusian Soros 
    Foundation (BSF) was detained and expelled from Belarus.  
    The expulsion was filmed by Belarusian state television, 
    which accused Byrne of participating in "illegal mass 
    meetings" organized by the political opposition and accused 
    the BSF of supporting "enemies of the people."    In a March 
    20 press release issued in New York, the Open Society 
    Institute (Soros Foundation) stated that the BSF "does not 
    give money to political parties or to partisan political 
    organizations, and does not make grants on the basis of 
    political affiliation."
    
    According to the Soros Foundation press release, the 
    expulsion of Byrne is one of a series of events over that 
    last two weeks by the Belarusian government to "prevent 
    independent nonprofit organizations from functioning in the 
    country."  On March 10 the President of Belarus issued a 
    decree which calls into question important tax exemptions 
    granted to the BSF and other non-profit organizations.  On 
    March 18 President Lukashenka announced that all non-
    governmental organizations would be investigated.  The next 
    day government security officials arrived at the BSF office 
    and demanded access to all BSF records.  Other nonprofits, 
    including the Chernobyl Children's Fund, are also under 
    investigation.
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