The Bell tolls for Belarus

Slobodan Milosevic, bye-bye. Hello Alexander Lukashenko -amongst a background of rioters and protestors crying foul after the reelection of the Belarus president. With the death of Milosevic, Lukashenko has now been deemed "Enemy No. 1" of Europe.

What's the big deal? Lukashenko won the election in an overwhelming victory, securing 82.6% victory. After winning, many thousands and the opposition accused the incumbent Lukashenko of rigging the election. Soon, police were sent out to quell rioters... in a not so 'gentle' way.

Belarus is called the "last big dictatorship" of Europe after the fall of Serbian President Milosevic. Lukashenko has been blamed for undermining and retarding the Belarus economy since he came into power. Additionally, his government was blamed for massive amounts of human right's violations. Human Rights Watch says the government has had a history of shutting down independent media, controlling opposition parties, and in was blamed for rigging the vote earlier (2004):

The government took full advantage of defective electoral legislation to manipulate the election campaign and engineer the outcome of the vote. An Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observer mission to the October vote emphasized that the poll was undermined by problems with the election laws, including: the accreditation process for independent election observers; rules regarding early voting and the storage of the resulting ballots, and procedures for adjudicating electoral complaints.

Another section about journalists in Belarus:

Journalists who criticize the government face prosecution. On September 30, a court convicted Alena Rawbetskaya, the editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Birzha Informacii (Stock-exchange Information), on defamation charges and fined her 1.3 million rubles (approximately U.S.$630), after the paper criticized the upcoming referendum. On the day of the elections, Pavel Sheremet, a Russian journalist from Channel One television was arrested on charges of “hooliganism.” Channel One broadcast two documentaries immediately prior to the elections in which Sheremet described the Lukashenka government as dictatorial. Sheremet was later released and the case against him suspended pending additional investigation.

From the United Nations Human Rights Commission Website, numerous documents were found written to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - many of which were authors or religious groups facing trial or sedition for criticising the government. One of these involves a teacher and a newspaper:

The facts as submitted by the author

2.1 The author - a teacher in a high school - is a representative of the NGO - Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) in the city of Krichev (Belarus). On 24 March 1999, the national newspaper "Narodnaya Volya" (People's Will) published a declaration, criticizing the policy of the authorities in power. The declaration was written and signed by representatives of hundreds of Belarusian regional political and non-governmental organizations (NGO), including the author. The latter observes that the declaration contained an appeal not to take part in the forthcoming local elections as a protest against the electoral law which the signatories believed was incompatible with "the Belarusian Constitution and the international norms".

2.2 On 12 April 1999, the author was called to the Krichev Prosecution Office to explain his signature on the above-mentioned open letter. He states that only two of the four NGOs in Krichev who also signed the appeal were called to the Prosecutor's Office, since they were considered as belonging to the political opposition.

2.3 On 26 April 1999, the author was summoned to appear before the Krichev District Court. The judge informed him that his signature on the open letter amounted to an offence under article 167, part 3, (1) of the Belarusian Code on Administrative Offences (CAO) and ordered him to pay a fine of 1 million Belarusian rubles, the equivalent of two minimum salaries. (2) According to the author, the judge was not impartial and threatened to sentence him to the maximum penalty – 10 minimum monthly salaries, as well as to report him to his employer if he did not confess his guilt.

So with a pretty deep involvement and well known reputation for crushing or shutting up any opposition, the Belarus government is well known for many human rights violations. Condoleeza Rice recently commented on the riots, calling them a great effort to overthrow "tyranny". The Belarus publication Belarus Today, posted a story calling the riots and protests an American-backed plot to overthrow the government with some very shocking accusations:

The man also said a colonel from the Georgian security services and American instructors had conducted examinations, and that the Americans had told them to bomb four polling stations at schools in Minsk during voting Sunday. “The Americans told us to organize four explosions at schools. The place and time [of the attacks] were to be told [to us] later. Concrete locations were not indicated,” the man said.

Wow... independent media or government-fueled PR? You decide...

Meanwhile I may now know why the United States is not fond of Lukashenko: