Eight Belarusian members of a doomsday cult that have barricaded themselves in a cave in Russia's Penza province are soon expected to return home, the RIA Novosti news agency said on Wednesday with reference to a deputy chief of the local migration department.
"Belarus' nationals have an intention to return home," Vladimir Yudin was quoted as saying.
The local migration department is reportedly preparing documents that the Belarusians need to travel to their home country. Mr. Yudin said that the department also was waiting for certified papers from the Belarusian interior ministry to send the people back, adding that Belarusian diplomats or officials would arrive in the province to help the group return.
Over 30 people went underground near the village of Nikolskoye in the Penza province in November 2007 to await the end of the world that they expect to happen this May. They threatened to blow themselves up if authorities attempted to force them out.
Two of them died during the vigil, including a Belarusian woman, a cult member who came out last week told Russian media.
It is believed that 11 people – nine women and two men – are still remaining in the cave. Four of them are Belarusians.
The group, which calls itself the "True Russian Orthodox Church," is led by Pyotr Kuznetsov who is thought to have ordered his followers into the cave but did not join them.
Prominent opposition youths Zmitser Dashkevich and Artur Finkevich and Nasha Niva reporter Syamyon Pechanko, as well as six more opposition politicians and supporters were released from the detention center on Akrestsina Street in Minsk on Wednesday, having served out their 15-day jail sentences.
The other people released on April 9 included Ilya Bohdan, a member of the Belarusian Popular Front, sole entrepreneurs Viktar Kaley and Uladzimir Syarheyew, Pavel Syaveryn, a member of the youth wing of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party “Hramada,” opposition activists Dzyanis Karnow and Vital Akimaw.
They were sent to jail on a charge of participation in an unauthorized demonstration on March 26. They were grabbed during a police crackdown on an opposition demonstration in downtown Minsk the day before.
Mr. Dashkevich was released from the detention center more than four hours before the official expiry of his term. He explained that authorities did not want him to be met by a big crowd of associates at the jail entrance.
Twenty-six people were sentenced to jail terms of between three and 15 days and 50 more were slapped with fines over their participation in the demonstration. A total of 88 people were arrested during the violent dispersal of the event, human rights groups say.
The start of broadcasting Belarus TV to North America was not caused by the recent aggravation of relations with the United States, Alyaksandr Zimowski, head of the Belarusian State Television and Radio Company (BSTRC), told reporters in Minsk on Tuesday.
“We did not try to time the beginning of broadcasting to coincide with any political events; it was a scheduled event under our Belarus TV development plan,” Mr. Zimowski explained. “Belarus TV would have entered the North American media market anyway, no matter what course international relations took.”
On March 28, Belarus TV, a satellite channel run by the BSTRC, started to be available for viewers in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Guatemala.
Under a contract with the BSTRC, France Telecom transmits Belarus TV to those countries via Galaxy 25 satellite in a package together with Russian, Ukrainian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, and other channels.
The channel has thereby increased its constant audience by 10 million people and the number of its potential viewers by 90 million to some 220 million, according to Valery Radutski, director general of the channel.
The BSTRC’s plans include spreading broadcasting to South America.
Belarus TV was launched on February 1, 2005 for the purpose of disseminating “true” information about the situation in Belarus. Last year the BSTRC signed contracts for transmissions to Cuba, Syria, Moldova, and Kazakhstan. //BelaPAN
Days of Friendship and Belarusian Culture are expected to be held in Italy’s Autonomous Region of Sardinia between May 14 and 19, Giuseppe Carboni, Belarus’ honorary consul in the Mediterranean island, told reporters in Minsk on Tuesday.
According to him, the Days will feature concerts by various Belarusian artists and a soccer tournament titled “Belarus Friendship Cup” in the south of Sardinia.
Kosmoto Monastir, an amateur soccer team in the Sardinian capital city of Cagliari, will play a number of friendly games in Belarus from May 30 through June 6, Mr. Carboni said.
In June, a group of Sardinian children are expected to visit the Zubranya summer camp in the Minsk region, Mr. Carboni said. In July, two Belarusian junior soccer teams will participate in an international tournament in Sardinia. A group of Belarusian children will take part in an international music and dancing festival to be held on San Pietro Island in December. This year 10 Belarusian students will spend 15 days at a university in Iglesias, and 10 Sardinian students will stay for two weeks in Belarus, Mr. Carboni said.
All the events are mainly aimed at strengthening cultural and educational ties between Belarus and Sardinia, he noted.
According to him, Belarus and Sardinia also intend cooperate in tourism and the economic sphere. A Belarusian business delegation is expected to visit Sardinia in September, and Italian businesspeople are to come to Belarus in November. The main objective of the visits will be to increase tourist flows, Mr. Carboni said.
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily. It has an area of 24,089 square kilometers and a population of about 1.7 million. The island is visited by about 1.7 million tourists every year. //BelaPAN
A judge of the Polatsk City Court on April 9 sentenced young opposition activist Alyaksey Yanushewski to a fine of 105,000 rubels ($50).
He was found guilty of acting in violation of regulations governing demonstrations under Article 23.34 of the Administrative Offenses Code.
Mr. Yanushewski was arrested by police when he and about a dozen other youths were demonstrating in front of the Polatsk City Court in support of their associate, Katsyaryna (Kasya) Salawyova, who was standing trial on a charge of acting on behalf of an unregistered organization. The young people were chanting, “Kasya, we are with you!” “We believe, we can, we’ll win!” and “Power to the people, freedom to the young!” When police attempted to abort the demonstration, the young people sat down on the ground, linking arms with each other. Policemen eventually arrested only one demonstrator, Mr. Yanushewski.
Another young opposition activist, Lyudmila Atakulava, was arrested by police when she was leaving Polatsk in a car. She was charged with an unsanctioned demonstration under Article 23.34 of the Administrative Offenses Code. She spent the night in a detention center and was expected to stand trial in the Polatsk City Court on Wednesday.
The House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly on April 9 approved Alyaksandr Lukashenka's presidential decree that removed quotas on imports of alcoholic beverages and non-food products containing alcohol.
The imports were restricted to a group of legal entities that "import products on the most beneficial conditions." The importers are to be selected by a "special commission" as specified by the decree.
The decree says that only companies fully owned by the government and companies in which the government holds a stake of more than 30 percent may produce brandies. The manufacturing licenses issued before the decree are to be valid only until September 1.
The decree removed special labels that are currently required for alcoholic beverages heading abroad, the measure aimed at boosting the exports.
It also specifies rules for the production and sales of excise duty and other labels.
The document also governs the advertising of alcoholic beverages. It allows using images of people and animals in the trademarks of alcohol manufacturers. It allows beer ads in all places except for health and education institutions provided that they contain only information about the producer.
The president of the European Athletics Association (EAA) expressed a high opinion of sports facilities in Brest.
Hansjorg Wirz, who had arrived in Belarus on Sunday in company with EAA Treasurer Karel Pilny, visited the city in southwestern Belarus on April 7.
Messrs. Wirz and Pilny examined Brest’s indoor athletics arena and Brestski multi-sport arena to find out whether they meet criteria for hosting EAA tournaments.
Mr. Wirz said that he was impressed with what he saw and that the arenas met international standards.
The EAA representatives also studied the city’s hotel and transport conditions, visited a rowing canal and met with Brest’s top officials.
Up to 20 international sports tournaments take place in the Belarusian city annually.
Brest will host a qualifying tournament for the Baseball European Champions Cup this June and the European Rowing Championships in 2009. //BelaPAN
Opposition youths Pavel Vinahradaw and Svyatlana Harakhovik have gone on a days-long hunger strike to display solidarity with imprisoned politician Alyaksandr Kazulin.
Ihar Rynkevich, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party “Hramada” and Dr. Kazulin’s former lawyer, ended his hunger strike on Tuesday.
“I lost more than 11 kilograms after 12 days of the fast,” he told BelaPAN.
The politician explained that he had started taking food because of the need to organize an opposition march to be staged on the 22nd anniversary of the Chernobyl accident later this month. “But my first experience of participation in a political hunger strike has given me a feeling of extraordinary internal strength and determination to endure this form of protest,” he said.
Uladzimir Myanshow, chairman of the Hrodna region’s association of disabled people, and civil society activist Syarhey Antoshankaw in Lida, Hrodna region, are also currently on a hunger strike to demand Dr. Kazulin’s release.
Opposition politician Syarhey Skrabets and his brother, Alyaksandr, were the first to go on a hunger strike to display solidarity with the former presidential candidate this year. They refused food between March 10 and April 1.
Dr. Kazulin, rector of Belarusian State University between 1996 and 2003 who was a candidate in Belarus’ 2006 presidential election, was arrested during a police crackdown on a peaceful post-election opposition demonstration on March 25, 2006. He was found guilty of hooliganism and the organization of group actions disturbing the public peace.
The person is believed by many to be the last convicted political prisoner in the country.
The European Union’s sanctions against Belarus’ high-ranking government officials are “incompatible with civilized interstate relations,” the Belarusian foreign ministry’s spokesman, Andrey Papow, said while commenting on the EU’s decision to extend the sanctions.
“Our European partners are perfectly well aware of our fundamental position on the use of sanctions in general,” Mr. Papow said. “Sanctions, unilateral in this case, are an absolutely counter-productive measure.”
On April 7, the EU Council, meeting in its Transport, Telecommunications and Energy configuration, decided to extend by one year the EU’s sanctions against a large number of Belarusian officials.
As a spokesman for the EU Council told BelaPAN, the list of targeted officials was left unchanged.
There are currently 41 people on the EU's list of Belarusian officials subject to a visa ban and an assets freeze in connection with their alleged involvement in a crackdown on civil society and opposition activists in the country.
A delegation of Belarus’ National Olympic Committee (NOC) is attending in the 16th General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees that opened in Beijing on April 7.
The delegation includes Henadz Aleksyayenka, first vice president of the NOC and presidential aide for sports and tourism, and NOC Secretary General Ryhor Katulin.
The Chinese capital city will host the 29th Summer Olympic Games in August.
Delegations of 205 national Olympic committees that are attending the event are expected to have a meeting with the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOM) and IOC President Jacques Rogge. The IOM Executive Board is scheduled to hold a session on April 11 and 12.
The Belarusian delegation will appeal to the World Anti-Doping Agency to help the NOC train experts for Belarus’ anti-doping laboratory, NOC Director General Yaraslaw Barychka told BelaPAN.
10 April 2008