Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to inform you that two Georgian pro-democracy activists are being held illegally by Belarusian government authorities in the capital Minsk.
Luka Tsuladze and Giorgi Kandelaki, both members of the Georgian youth movement "Kmara" traveled to Belarus to meet with representatives of a similar movement, Zubr. Mr. Tsuladze and Mr.Kandelaki, along with Zubr coordinator Uladzimir Kobets, were detained without legal grounds on August 24 in Minsk by officers of a criminal investigation department.
The activists of the youth movements were put in different cars and first taken to Police Department Number 1 of the Maskouski district of Minsk, and in an hour they were transferred to the Internal Affairs department of the Maskouski district of Minsk.
Nearly a week later, the two Kmara activists are still being held in the criminal investigation department without being charged with any crime or legal violation. Their mobile phones are switched off, and we have not been able to contact them or receive any sort of information about their condition. Food parcels and legal counsel have also been denied to them by the Belarusian authorities.
Representatives of the Georgian diplomatic corps have tried repeatedly to visit the detainees, but have so far been refused access to them -- thus violating international norms and basic human rights standards. Family and relatives of the arrested also cannot get any information about their condition.
The detainees have been neither charged nor deported, which is a violation of Belarus's own legislation according to which deportation should happen no later then the third day after arrest.
Belarusian authorities continue to refuse to comment on the arrest.
There has been only one TV report on Belarusian State controlled television according to which Mr.Kandelaki and Mr. Tsuladze "arrived to the country with the aim of destabilizing the situation and would be deported".
Kmara is a non-violent, pro-democracy movement which played a crucial role in the so-called Rose Revolution that peacefully ousted Georgia's former President Eduard Shevardnadze in 2003. Ever since then Kmara has been involved in many civil society and pro-democracy
projects.
We ask you for your support to defend the fundamental civil rights of Giorgi Kandelaki and Luka Tsuladze and to help us in any way possible to disseminate, publicize and communicate this information with media and relevant international organizations which can be of assistance
in this process.
Liberty Institute
Levan Ramishvili
Chairman
levanrami@liberty.ge
liberty@liberty.ge
23, Griboedov St. 0108, Tbilisi, Georgia
tel: +995 (32) 93 66 15
tel2:+995 (32) 93 91 54
fax: +995 (32) 93 67 84
mobile: +995 (77) 477725
www.liberty.ge
Siehe auch: BELARUS: TWO GEORGIAN YOUTH ACTIVISTS REMAIN JAILED IN MINSK (Jan Maksymiuk 8/29/05 A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL )
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