BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/02/2006

Bush chides Belarus on human rights ahead of vote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush showed U.S. displeasure on Monday with the Belarus government's human rights record by meeting at the White House with two women whose husbands disappeared in the former Soviet republic.

"This meeting ... is intended to underscore our concern about the Belarussian government's conduct leading up to the election, harassment of civil society and the political opposition and failure to investigate seriously the cases of the disappeared," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

It comes less than three weeks before Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko seeks a new term. The United States and European Union accuse Lukashenko of cracking down on opponents, muzzling the media and systematically falsifying ballots -- including his re-election in 2001.

The two women -- Irina Krasovskaya and Svyatlana Zavadskaya -- are co-founders of an organization called "We Remember," which seeks justice for the disappeared.

Krasovskaya's husband, a prominent pro-democracy businessman, disappeared in 1999. Zavadskaya's husband was a well-known television journalist who disappeared in 2000 following his reports that Belarussian authorities may have aided Chechen separatists.

Several international investigations have concluded that the women's husbands were murdered.

"We continue to stand with the people of Belarus in their effort to determine their own future," McClellan said.

Lukashenko, the favorite, faces three rivals in the election on March 19, including two representing Belarus's small opposition.

Source:

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-02-27T165556Z_01_N27377480_RTRUKOC_0_US-BELARUS-BUSH.xml&archived=False