LUKASHENKO GOV'T ORDERS MASSIVE ARRESTS OF DEMONSTRATORS
OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS STAGING ROUND-THE-CLOCK VIGIL IN MINSK, PROTESTING AGAINST ELECTION FRAUD IMPRISONED BY BELARUS PRESIDENT
24 March 2006

The authoritarian regime of Belarus pres. Aleksandr Lukashenko has used mass-arrest as a tool to silence opposition to its dubious recent election win. Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich has gone to the prison where his supporters are being held, demanding international opposition to rule of embattled Lukashenko.

The European Union has said it will take "restrictive measures" against Lukashenko's government, and the United States has called directly for new elections. Milinkevich told a rally on Monday that Mr Lukashenko should be barred from participating in any future campaign, citing his alleged manipulation of a referendum to grant himself the right to run for a third term, despite constitutional term limits.

Russia now alleges the OSCE, which issued a report on the election's legitimacy, is biased against Belarus and is "stirring up trouble" to hurt a Russian ally. Pres. Lukashenko is a close political and security ally of Russia's Vladimir Putin, and their governments are mutually involved in a number of suspicious anti-opposition activities.

Western observes allege Mr Putin is trying to use a ruthless strongman to maintain a firm grip on Belarus as part of the Russian "sphere of influence" in Soviet times. Belarus still refers to its security forces as the KGB, and Mr Putin has declared that the collapse of the Soviet Union was "the greatest social catastrophe of the 20th century". Militarism in both countries has neighboring states worried about the decline of still nascent democratic processes in the region. [s]

• Times: "Police crush Belarus protest"
• BBC: "US rejects Belarus poll results"
• OSCE: "Belarusian election severely flawed due to arbitrary use of state power and restrictions on basic rights"
• Guardian: "EU says Belarus vote marred by 'climate of intimidation'"

BELARUS POLL "SEVERELY FLAWED", GOV'T TO FACE SANCTIONS
OPPOSITION, DIPLOMATS SAY VOTE COUNT MANIPULATED, LEGITIMACY OF ELECTION IN DOUBT
20 March 2006

In the weeks before the presidential election held in Belarus yesterday, the government of Aleksandr Lukashenko imprisoned an estimated one-third of the top campaign staff of his lead rival. Lukashenko himself and various arms of his government's propaganda apparatus openly characterized any opposition to his reelection as a threat to the nation and warned of "bloodshed" if there were protests. [Full Story]

BELARUS PRES. THREATENS TO "WRING THE NECKS" OF OPPONENTS
OBSERVERS FEAR BLOODSHED IF STATE TRIES TO RIG ELECTION RESULTS
18 March 2006

Belarus stands as perhaps the last stronghold of truly Soviet-style dictatorial politics in Europe. Pres. Lukashenko has spent years stamping out opposition through a combination of abuses through the KGB (Belarus' secret police, which retains the Soviet-era title), jailing of dissidents, press censorship, expropriation and propaganda. Opposition to democratic means is almost total under his rule, and bloodshed is feared for election day, Sunday. [Full Story]