Polish minority say they are being harassed by the government following earlier reports that Protestant Christians were being persecuted there, BosNewsLife monitored Friday, August 5.
On Thursday, August 4, Andrzej Pisalnik, informal spokesman for an ethnic Polish group in Belarus, was found guilty of taking part in an unlicensed demonstration and sentenced to 10 days in jail.
The action is the latest development in a dispute between the Polish minority in Belarus and the government of President Alexander Lukashenko. Earlier this week, another official of the group, Veslaw Kewlyak, received a 15 days jail term on charges of "illegally" meeting a visiting Polish parliamentarian.
POLISH ROW
Polish Speaker of Parliament Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz fears the row could lead to end of official diplomatic relations between the two countries. "We try not to overreact. But on the other hand some steps are unfortunately necessary when they expelled more and more Polish diplomats. I hope it will be solved. But I can not exclude a pessimistic negative scenario, which may even result in closing embassies in each others capitals," he told Polish radio.
About 400,000 ethnic Poles live in Belarus, mainly in areas that were part of Poland until World War II. Presidential elections are expected as early as 2006, and Polish political analyst Krzysztof Mularczyk said Lukashenko fears growing resentment toward him among Poles and other groups.
"He is [beginning] to feel encircled and he, like many authoritarians, wants to have an enemy that he can fight," he explained. "And I think he has identified the Polish minority as something that he can sell as an internal threat within Belarus and try to build up some kind of false national unity against [influence] from the West."
BELARUS ANGRY
President Lukashenko has reportedly accused Poland of plotting to overthrow his government through the ethnic Polish minority. In recent weeks, Belarus expelled three Polish diplomats, while Poland ordered three Belarusian diplomats to leave. Poland has withdrawn its ambassador from Minsk, the capital, for what it calls consultations.
Poland, which joined the EU last year following its post-Communist transition, has asked the European Union to intervene. The EU has already expressed concern about the situation in Belarus and its human rights record, and says it supports the Polish minority.
Belarus, a former Soviet republic of over 10 million people, accuses Poland of working with other countries to try to topple its elected President Alexander Lukashenko.
PROTESTANT CHRISTIANS
Besides the ethnic Polish minority other groups, including Protestant Christians, are being made scape goats for the country’s international isolation, human rights watchdogs say. "The Belarusian religion law’s insistence on religious communities being registered at a non-residential address, as well as state approval for religious activities outside purpose-built places of worship, creates obstacles for Protestants in particular," said Forum 18, a religious rights group.
"For example, the charismatic New Generation Church’s 150-strong congregation in Baranovichi faces long-running problems, caused by the authorities’ refusal to allow a warehouse the church owns to be converted into a church. Reasons given vary between multi-storey housing being planned for the site, and that it will be used for a stadium’s car park. Another example is the Minsk-based charismatic New Life Church, which faces continuing obstruction in using a cowshed for worship."
Forum 18 said the "latest threat", is that the city is considering ending the "church’s right to the land beneath the cowshed." Officials claim the cowshed can only be used only for its designated purpose – even though animal husbandry is illegal in Minsk city. Forum 18 has found that other Protestant churches throughout Belarus face similar obstructions from officials.
MANY FLEE
Meanwhile an increasing number of persecuted people are trying to flee Belarus to Poland, Polish radio reported. "Belarusian dissidents live in terror. There’s high unemployment in Belarus, but if you openly say you are against the Lukashenko regime, you simply lose your job," an unidentified Belarusian refugee a teacher in his thirties, was quoted as saying.
However Polish commentators suggest that Western organizations such as the European Union are reluctant to go further than expressing "concern" about the reported oppression by taking tougher economic and political actions, as it wants to establish closer ties with Russia, which is an ally of Belarus.
The English language service of Polish radio, Radio Polonia, has reported however there are plans within the EU to support independent broadcasts from neighboring nations towards Belarus, a country the United States described as "Europe’s last dictatorship."
But Lukashenko, who seeks a third term in office, has warned no matter what pressure will be used, he will not allow pro-democracy revolutions like the recent Rose Revolution in nearby Ukraine, which he believes was actively supported by countries like Poland. (With BosNewsLife Research, BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest and reports from Belarus. Parts of this material also aired on Voice of America (VOA) via BosNewsLife).
