Navumchyk responds to Belarusian Television's reference to him

1996-10-03 15:30

Minsk, 3 October. Syarhey Navumchyk, one of the leaders of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), who has recently been granted political asylum in the US and is currently living in this country, has made a statement in view of a reference to his words recently made by Alyaksandr Zimowski, the host of Belarusian Television news show "Rezanans."
Mr. Zimowski cited a critical comment on the 1994 Constitution, which had been made by Mr. Navumchyk while a deputy to the Supreme Soviet.
In his statement Mr. Navumchyk stresses that the Constitution currently in force "was adopted in violation of regulations on the initiative of a group of pro-government deputies and 'young wolves,' in which MP Alyaksandr Lukashenka played an important role. In particular, he was persuading deputies to vote for the introduction of presidency. The members of the BPF oppositional faction opposed the introduction of presidency in principle, and therefore, we did not take part in the vote on the constitution. However, in view of the present situation the 1994 constitution can and should become the main factor of stabilization. The aspiration to adopt a new constitution, especially the draft constitution proposed by President Lukashenka may have bad consequences. The referendum proposed by the president is an attempt to strengthen the dictatorship and avoid any responsibility in the future in a legal way. It seems that the most effective method to prevent this may be to initiate the impeachment of Lukashenka by Parliament."