Independent observers victimized and prosecuted, says observer network coordinator

Minsk, 21 September. Ales Belyatsky, a coordinator of the Nezavisimoye Nablyudeniye (Independent Observation) campaign during Belarus' September 4-9 presidential election, told reporters on Friday that many people have been victimized and prosecuted for taking part in the campaign. According to Mr. Belyatsky, Ales Galich, coordinator for Minsk's Sovetsky district, and Pyotr Migursky, coordinator for the Shklov district, Mogilyov region, are to be brought to trial. Mr. Galich is accused of petty hooliganism for calling an election official villain after he reportedly rumpled his ID and threw it on the floor. Mr. Migursky faces a criminal charge for allegedly exceeding his authority. Teacher Andrei Alekhnovich, who coordinated the campaign in the Krupki district, Minsk region, was fired from his school. So was technical school instructor Aleksandr Nikitin, coordinator for the Cherven district, Minsk region. His son, an instructor at the same school, was reprimanded for "anti-governmental activity." Oleg Metelitsa, coordinator for the town of Belynichi, Mogilyov region, spent 15 days in jail for training observers at his apartment, Mr. Belyatsky said. According to him, Sergei Malchik and Vladimir Khilmanovich, coordinators for the Grodno region, and Vladimir Kiselevich, coordinator for the Grodno district, may soon face criminal charges. "Flaws in electoral legislation and in the organization of the election allowed the authorities to carry out a large-scale falsification of the vote," Mr. Belyatsky said. According to him, precinct commissions' refusal to show the lists of voters to observers, the intentional hiding of the results of early voting evidenced "massive election fraud." Mr. Belyatsky cited some examples. For instance, officials at Precinct No. 4 in Minsk's Pervomaisky district reported that opposition candidate Vladimir Goncharik gained 4 percent of the vote on an early voting day and 48 percent on September 9. Belarus' chief of state, Aleksandr Lukashenko, got 89.62 and 37.97 percent of the vote, respectively, on these days. Mr. Belyatsky noted that in other countries, the results of early voting and voting on the polling day usually do not differ very much. According to Mr. Belyatsky, observers reported hundreds of cases of vote tampering. "The secret vote count procedure, where commission members did not pronounce how many voters cast ballots for one candidate or another, but wrote figures on paper, proved that the vote count mechanism had been imposed from above," he said. Mr. Belyatsky expressed hope that members of election commissions would confirm in the future that the election was rigged.