BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

13/12/2007

Belarus Opposition Slams Brutality Ahead Of Putin Visit - AFP

MINSK (AFP)--Belarus' embattled opposition accused President Alexander Lukashenko of brutality Thursday after police severely beat youth protestors on the eve of a visit by Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

"The regime exists on fear and lies," Pavel Severinets, a founding member of the Young Front movement, told AFP as the group's leader spent a second day in hospital being treated for head injuries.

Some 200 police late Wednesday dispersed 100 people protesting against a project to unify their ex-Soviet republic of 10 million with Russia. The violence occurred just ahead of a visit Thursday and Friday by Putin, the Belarussian government's strongest backer.

The U.S., which has branded Lukashenko persona non grata, said it condemned " the use of brutal force against demonstrators."

The most seriously injured was Young Front leader Zmiter Fedaruk who was still in hospital Thursday.

He had "the print of a special forces boot on his neck and many bruises on his stomach," the group's spokeswoman, Tatyana Shaputka, said.

"He is now able to move his fingers and speak in a whisper. The final diagnosis is not yet known. The preliminary diagnosis is head injuries, concussion, and multiple bruises," she said.

Social Democratic Party leader Mikola Statkevich said that riot police " suddenly jumped on the group of young people, pushed them to the ground, and then simply started to kick Zmiter (Fedaruk)."

Anatoly Lebedko, another well-known opposition activist in Belarus, said he had also been beaten and had suffered a split lip. "There has not been such a vicious break-up of a demonstration in a long time."

Fedaruk and Lebedko were part of a Belarussian pro-democracy delegation that met with U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week in Washington.

Statkevich said Lukashenko had ordered the police to crack down because he wanted to impress Putin ahead of possible negotiations on uniting Belarus and Russia.

"Lukashenko has built a moribund economy and now he is trying to stave off collapse with the help of cheap Russian gas and loans. But for this he had to show Putin that Belarus viciously crushes anti-Russian expression," Statkevich said.

"But the time will come when monuments are erected to these heroes," he said.

Human rights defender Vladimir Labkovich said he was filing a complaint with the prosecutor's office because the "special forces clearly exceeded their authority."

The Union of Belarus and Russia, created in 1997, has seen slow progress and its state secretary Pavel Borodin admitted as much on Wednesday, saying the path forward was marred "with many difficulties."

The intention is to eventually achieve a unified state with combined institutions and the Russian ruble as a common currency.

Speculation has been swirling in Moscow that Putin, who must stand down next year, is considering pushing for the union to be created so that he can become president of an enlarged country.

Source:

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20071213%5cACQDJON200712130915DOWJONESDJONLINE000766.htm&