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TO:
The President of the Republic of
Bulgaria
The Prime-Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria
The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria
The Minister of European Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria
The Parliamentary Groups in the National Assembly of the
Republic of Bulgaria
The Chief Prosecutor of the Republic of Bulgaria
The National Union of the Bulgarian Prosecutors
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
The Foundation of Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On 28 January 2005 the Sofia
District Court will hear law suite No 748/2004 about the
resident status in the Republic of Bulgaria of the Belarus
citizen Michail Vashkevic.
Mr Vashkevic is a prominent
public figure and dissident opposing the repressive regime of
the Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko. Since 1996 the
authoritarian regime of Lukashenko has been persecuting and
subjecting to repressions and physical abuse leaders of the
democratic opposition. Mr Vashkevic was forced to leave
Belarus following repeated death threats to his family and
himself. He sought political asylum in a free and democratic
Bulgaria, as he views our country.
It came to the knowledge of the
Bulgarian public and to us, the citizens, signatories to this
open letter, that for years on end Mr. Vashkevic had been
having difficulties in maintaining his status as a political
immigrant. Between December 2003 and January 2004 following
visa and administrative problems with the Bulgarian
authorities, he was detained in the Sofia prison for
foreigners. The conditions of detention were damaging to the
prestige of our country.
He remained in the prison for 37
days, the reason being “unlawful residence in Bulgaria”.
He was arrested because the
Bulgarian Government refused to grant him political asylum on
the grounds that “Belarus now is a democratic country”. At the
same time the Belarus Chief Prosecutor Sheiman, (recently he
was appointed a personal advisor to the dictator Lukashenko),
was received with honours in the spring of 2004 by the
Bulgarian Government and the Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor
Filchev.
If, at that time, this act of
the authorities could be deemed as a bureaucratic blackmail
against a foreigner seeking with good reason political asylum,
after the visit of Sheiman, the representative of the Belarus
regime, the treatment of Mr. Vashkevic is to be described as
suspicious and politically motivated.
We find it hard to detect
political logic in the visit of Mr. Sheiman having in mind the
forthcoming admission of Bulgaria in the European Union. We
are deeply worried about the visit of an emissary of an
oppresive regime in this country and by the treatment of
distinguished dissident and public figure like Mr. Vashkevic
by the Bulgarian Government, the court and the prosecutor’s
office. We find it difficult to understand how Belarus could
be considered “a democratic country already”, which is the
reason to deny political asylum for Mr. Vashkevic, if the US
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice specifically referred in
her inaugural speech to this very country as “an outpost of
tyranny”!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Belarus is not a democratic
state! Probably you have missed the following facts about
Belarus:
In November of 1996 Lukashenko
organized illegal and unconstitutional referendum, which
allowed him to introduce a new Constitution and to disband the
democratically elected Parliament - XIII Belarus Supreme
Council. The parliament was replaced with a helpless National
Assembly, personally answering to the dictator. This body
extended his presidential mandate to 2001 and thus enabled him
to impose the dictatorial rule.
In May of 1999, The Belarus
Democratic Forces (BDF) organized alternative presidential
election. The response was merciless repression , mass and
lengthy detentions. The opposition leaders Victor Gonchar,
Anatoly Krasovsky, Yury Zaharenko and the journalist Dmitry
Zavadsky vanished and were not to be seen again. There is no
freedom of speech – the media criticizing the regime were shut
down, the journalists persecuted and arrested. The Orthodox,
The Protestant and the Catholic churches and denominations are
also harassed and victimized.
The US Government, European
Union, NATO Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly do not recognize the unelected Belarus Parliament and
the referendums of 1996 and 2004, which “legitimized” the
dictator Lukashenko.
The presidential election of 9th
September 2001 was described as undemocratic and not
conforming to the OSCE standards for democratic vote as
stipulated in the 1990 Copenhagen criteria. The EU defines the
Lukashenko regime as undemocratic due to the following
reasons: persecution and detention of opposition leaders,
denying media access to the opposition, persecution of
independent NGOs (confiscation of their property), foul play
in counting the vote and smear campaign in the state media
against the international observers.
The referendum of 17th of
October 2004 for constitutional amendments enabled the
dictator to run for a third time for president! There is no
such analogue in the modern democratic societies! Less than a
year ago, Lukashenko declared before the media his admiration
for Hitler, Lenin and Stalin! He pronounced himself to be a
true disciple of them.
Lukashenko established friendly
relations with pariah states, supporting terrorism, as well as
with the Castro, Milosevic and Saddam regimes.
Following the 2004 referendum,
the repression soared to new heights – peaceful protesters
were severely beaten, opposition politicians were imprisoned
and kidnapped.
On 22 October 2004 was murdered
Veronika Cherkazova, a prominent investigative journalist and
organizer of demonstrations against the illegal referendum.
Unknown assassins slashed her throat. Ms Cherkazova was an
editor of the Solidarity newspaper, published by the independent
trade union of the same name. The symbolic link, relating to
Poland of the 80s is clear.
Since the illegal referendum,
many news people were persecuted and arrested. According to
the Western media, between 50 and 100 journalists have been
missing for more than three months now.
The opposition leaders Anatoly
Lebedko and Nikolay Statkevich have been beaten and denied
medical help. They are now unlawfully detained. The Minsk
Humanities University (financed by the EU in 1992) is now
closed, professors and students have been brutally assaulted,
detained and tortured in the wake of the peaceful protest
vigil on 22 October 2004.
US President George Bush signed
in October 2004 The Law for Assistance of the Democratic
Process in Belarus. The President, US Senate and American
public figures condemned the manipulative and rigged
referendum of 17 October 2004, the beatings , the illegal
detentions and persecution of opposition activists.
The EU described the referendum
as a farce and supported the US sanctions against Belarus. On
25 October 2004 The Council of Europe published List of
Missing Politicians during the Lukashenko rule. The Council
formed a special committee to investigate the events in
Belarus.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is the country declared as
“already democratic” by the Bulgarian Government!
With this open letter we would
like to protest against the scandalous and unjustified
treatment of Mr. Mikhail Vashkevic by the Bulgarian
authorities. We lived through the tragic Communist past of our
country, 1944 – 1989. That is why we think it is an honour for
Bulgaria to be chosen as safe haven by a political dissident
and civil rights leader like Mr. Mikhail Vashkevic. To grant
political asylum to him, would be a symbolic gesture to the
countries that protected and gave sanctuary to thousands of
Bulgarian dissidents during the Communist era.
This is a case, where the
Bulgarian authorities contradict the official position of the
OSCE, chaired until recently by Bulgaria. In this issue, the
Bulgarian Government directly confronts the EU, which our
country will soon join! To neglect the opinion of the
civilized world about the Belarus dictatorship is a proof of
political short sightedness. It is also disrespectful and
inhuman treatment of an old and ailing man.
We appeal to you to help Mr.
Vashkevic and to stop the physical and psychological abuse, he
is subjected to. He has done enough in his life not to face
insecurity and deportation.
We appeal to you to assist in
granting of political refugee status to Mikhail Yosifovich
Vashkevic, as his residence status in Bulgaria is considered
in view of his social and civic integration in the Bulgarian
society.
We respectfully send this open
letter to the following institutions:
Commissioner for Human Rights,
Strasbourg
Council of the European Union, Strasbourg
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, Strasbourg
European Commission for Enlargement, Brussels
European Commission for Human Rights, Strasbourg
European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg
European Union, Brussels
European Union Office Amnesty International, Brussels
Human Rights Watch, London
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Helsinki
U.S. Department of State, Washington D.C.
Bulgarian/German |
