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The authorities didn’t permit to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions to meet with Mikhail Marynich who has been kept in the Investigative Isolator of KGB since April 2004. The meeting was planned on 25 August. Instead of this, they brought one more criminal case and prolonged the term of his preliminary detention for a month. (30-AUG-2004)

In Minsk a number of large shops refused to sell leading non-governmental newspapers, such as “Belorusskiy Rynok”, “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” (“BDG”), “Belorusskaya Gazeta” and “Narodnaya Volia”. The owners of some shops didn’t even bother to notify the editors while canceling the distribution agreements. (26-AUG-04)

The public association “Human Rights Center “Viasna” that was liquidated by the Supreme Court of Republic of Belarus in 2003 continues its activity. On 24 August the lawyers of the organization completed the analysis of one of the stages of the election into the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly of Republic of Belarus (Parliament) and presented its results at Viasna´s web site. (26-AUG-04)

Zmitser Pawlichenka, suspected of abduction and possible murder of Lukashenka’s political opponents, was awarded with the order of the Russian Orthodox Church. Families of the disappeared are indignant about the award. (18-AUG-2004)

The election into the Parliament of Republic of Belarus will take place on 4 October. District electoral commissions have been already formed and have begun registration of candidates’ initiative groups. This stage has never been a problem before. As a rule, all initiative groups were registered during all previous elections. Now some district election commissions insistently refuse to register the groups. It has become a real problem for some well-known regional activists.
(18-AUG-04)

The stage of forming of circuit electoral commissions for election into the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly of Republic of Belarus is over. Only 2,1% of the members of the commissions that are established by local administrations, belong to oppositional parties. The authorities openly ignored oppositional candidates for membership in the commissions. (05-AUG-04)

Belarusian authorities took a number of repressive steps against uncontrolled educational and cultural activity in the Republic of Belarus – liquidation of European Humanities University and deportation of British professor Alan Flowers.

The election into the Chamber of Representatives of the Belarusian Parliament will take place on 14 October. The authorities are getting ready to it – the wave of repressions increases.

On 21 July there turned 10 years of the rule of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Belarusian opposition held a peaceful action of protest in the center of the capital. The meeting was violently dispersed by special police forces.