From Belarus, a cry for help/Sikorsky compared Belarus with North Korea - Suspend 2014 Ice Hockey Championship in Belarus!

* Amos 5:24 (God; Adonaj bless and shelter the innocent people and the heroes; journalists, the opposition, human rights defenders...in Belarus and in exile)
* Free Belarus ♥ Presidential candidate Sannikov/Iryna K: (dedicated film: link)
* Shushkevich: “The Americans could — but never do — put some pressure on Putin to live up to the many documents he has signed regarding human rights." --- U.S. sanctions on Belarus, he said, have been more effective than European sanctions and have helped pressure Lukashenko to RELEASE some well-known dissidents"
* INGET PR-JIPPO för Lukashenko!(inget/ishockey-VM)

Stanislav Shushkevich, the leader of Belarus as it emerged from the Soviet Union 20 years ago, doesn’t look like a dangerous man. At 77, you would take him more for the rumpled physicist he used to be than for a dangerous dissident.

Nonetheless, he was able to visit the United States this week — including dropping by The Post on Friday — only after some James Bond-like maneuvers. His country’s longtime dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, has barred Shushkevich from traveling (in direct contravention of the country’s constitution, Shushkevich points out). So Shushkevich used his thoroughly tapped cellphone to tell all his friends that he was traveling to Russia by train, specifying the date, time and even seat number. Then he drove across an unpoliced border crossing into Russia and traveled from there to Latvia, Lithuania and eventually Washington.

The message he had to deliver: Belarus is stifling, politically and economically, under its “telephone dictatorship” — meaning everything happens based on phone calls from Lukashenko, up to and including the disappearance of politicians who get in the way and the execution of innocent Belarusans.

And, Shushkevich said, the Obama administration could do more to help his country’s beleaguered democrats stand up to their tyranny.

U.S. sanctions on Belarus, he said, have been more effective than European sanctions and have helped pressure Lukashenko to release some well-known dissidents. But, he said, Lukashenko only holds onto his position thanks to financial and political backing from Russia’s strongman, Vladimir Putin.

“Nothing can be done except through Moscow,” Shushkevich said. “The Americans could — but never do — put some pressure on Putin to live up to the many documents he has signed regarding human rights."

Washington post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/from-belarus-a-cry-for-help/2012/03/30/gIQAhvzblS_blog.html?socialreader_check=0&denied=1
By Fred Hiatt

Sikorski compared Belarus with North Korea

charter97.org
30-03-2012, 13:43

The Foreign Ministry of Poland representatives believe that the foreign political activities of Belarus are similar to those of North Korea.
It has been stated in the report of the Foreign Minister of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski on the objectives of the Polish foreign policy in 2012, which was presented by him on March 29 at the Polish Parliament, Telegraf informs.

"Only autarkic self-isolating states may enjoy unlimited autonomy today. The states are unbelievable. The Belarusian leader publicly boasts of his absolute independence, for example, from the "EU pressure". In fact, this means that he can imprison the opposition, but entirely depends on those supplying oil or gas to Belarus, offering him some loan guarantees or threatening with their withdrawal. So does the North Korean regime, which exists at discretion of China", the report says.

Besides, the report of the Polish Foreign Ministry says that Belarus insists on implementing the principle of ‘less for less in its relations with Europe. "At the suggestion of Donald Tusk, we have prepared a proposal for cooperation to the forum of Eastern Partnership summit. This proposal is waiting for the day when the repression comes to an end and the political opposition may occupy its place", noted Radoslaw Sikorski.

UDF.by

SIGN PETITION:

http://www.change.org/petitions/iihf-suspend-the-2014-ice-hockey-championship-in-belarus?utm_campaign=tdDsAQMPvP&utm_medium=email&utm_source=action_alert

"Lukashenko "should not be rewared with the prestige associated with hosting the 2014 International Ice Hockey Championship while his citizens languish in jail for peacefully trying to exercise minimal political freedoms." Sign Petitition to get the Federation to suspend it from Belarus!

http://www.infobelarus.nu/2012/04/ingen-puck-for-lukasjenka/

"Belarus är landet mitt i Europa där studenter sparkas från sina studier om de är engagerade i ”fel organisation.” Det är det sista landet i Europa som tillämpar dödsstraff, där unga män skjuts med nackskott och deras föräldrar inte har rätten att begrava deras kroppar. Presidentkandidater, oberoende journalister och människorättsaktivister sitter fängslade och utsätts för tortyr. Belarus är också landet där regimen tar gisslan, när oberoende journalister, den före detta statschefen och andra frontfigurer inom den demokratiska rörelsen får utreseförbud instämplade i sina pass.

Diktator Lukasjenka genomför en enorm satsning inför ishockey-VM 2014. Han lägger stor personlig prestige i VM-projektet. Det skulle räcka att en enda delegation vid internationella ishockeyförbundets kongress i Helsingfors i maj begär att frågan tas upp på dagordningen, för att det ska finnas en chans att Lukasjenka fråntas detta PR-jippo"  


Europaparlamentet uppmanar Internationella Ishockeyförbundet att flytta VM 2014 till ett annat värdland.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20120328IPR42044/html/Belarus-should-immediately-abolish-the-death-penalty-MEPs-say 
USA vill stoppa vitryskt ishockey-VM
http://www.svd.se/sport/usa-vill-stoppa-vitryskt-ishockey-vm_6724279.svd
Hockeylegenden Štastný vill stoppa vitryskt VM
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=5026924

Hockeypampars hotell undantaget från sanktioner??!!

http://vitryssland.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/hockeypampars-hotell-undantaget-fran-sanktioner/



http://www.frontlineclub.com/events/2012/04/exclusive-preview-screening-europes-last-dictator.html

"While the eyes of the world are turned to the Middle East, protests against dictatorships are happening much closer to home - in Europe.

Aleksander Lukashenko, President of Belarus for the past 14 years, has been accused of torture, state-sponsored murder and kidnap as part of a crackdown on opposition to his government."

 http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2012/4/2/50140/

"Nikolay Svanidze, a historian and TV journalist, believes that the Belarusian regime is a threat for the civilized community:

“The dictatorial regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka is dangerous for citizens of Belarus; courts are subjected to the state leadership, that is why when the death sentence is executed, and it is done so hurriedly, it suggests an idea that the authorities are interested in this exactly hastiness of the execution of the sentence. It is not known why the regime is interested in that. In general, a dictatorial power is always pregnant with tyranny, always results in repressions.”

Belarus' exports to EU  increased despite sanctions??!!

http://telegraf.by/en/2012/04/nesmotrya-na-sankcii-eksport-belarusi-v-es-viros-v-2-6-raza

http://www.europaportalen.se/2011/08/litauen-ber-om-ursakt

"Gripandet av vitryska människorättsaktivisten Ales Belyatsky chockade den förtryckta vitryska oppositionen. Men det var en chock för Litauen också. Litauen protesterade kraftigt mot missbruket av de bilaterala samarbetets rättsliga instrument som de vitryska myndigheterna använde för politiska syften." 

Från Belarus - A voice from Belarus:
http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2012/3/21/49583/
Do to support the idea of economic sanctions and cancellation of the Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk?
- "I believe it is a very effective and strong mechanism, and it should not be disregarded. Even discussions on the economic sanctions are very sensitive for the authorities, I experienced that first-hand when I was imprisoned in the KGB remand prison. When a session is being prepared where the issue of economic sanctions is discussed – everything is quiet, you are left alone, you spend time quietly. As soon as such a session is over, a decision is not adopted, tortures, pressure and threats start immediately."


Earlier
http://minkristnasamhllsblogg.blogspot.com/2012/03/belarus-freedom-day-support-call-for.html
Support the call for freedom and democracy everywhere 



The real President - Andrei Sannikov/Iryna Khalip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kusXRJVdbsE#!
"The Judgement time chronicle"



 "Ställ in hockeylandskamperna i Minsk!"
http://vitryssland.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/stall-in-hockeylandskamperna-i-minsk/ 


 

Amos 5:24 "Låt rätten flöda fram som vatten och rättfärdigheten som en ständigt rinnande ström."
"But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."





Photo: Kerstin L (opposition's flag, Minsk, Belarus)


MORE TO COME - I MORGON EN NY BLOGGPOST OM - TOMORROW:  Young Front's appeal och om Mikalaj Dzemidzenka och S Kavalenka (Hungerstrike)