•HCON 230 IH
on Belarus and abolish the Parliament, replacing it with
a rubber-stamp legislature;
Whereas Lukashenka illegally extended his own term of office
to 2001 by an illegitimate referendum;
Whereas Belarus has effectively become an authoritarian po-
lice state, where human rights are routinely violated;
Whereas Belarusian economic development is stagnant and
living conditions are deplorable;
Whereas in May 1999, the Belarusian opposition challenged
Lukashenka’s unconstitutional lengthening of his term by
staging alternative presidential elections, unleashing the
government crackdown;
Whereas the leader of the opposition, Simyon Sharetsky, was
forced to flee Belarus to the neighboring Baltic state of
Lithuania in fear for his life;
Whereas several leaders of the opposition—Viktor Gonchar,
Yuri Krasovsky, Yuri Zakharenka, Tamara Vinnikova,
and other members of the opposition, have disappeared;
Whereas the Belarusian authorities harass and persecute the
independent media and work to actively suppress the
freedom of speech;
Whereas the former Prime Minister Mikhail Chygir, who was
a candidate in the opposition’s alternative presidential
elections in May 1999, has been held in the pretrial de-
tention on trumped up charges since April 1999;
Whereas President Lukashenka’s government provoked the
clashes between riot police and the demonstrators at the
October 17, 1999, ‘‘Freedom March’’, which resulted in
injuries to demonstrators and scores of illegal arrests;
•HCON 230 IH
Whereas President Lukashenka addressed a session of the
Russian State Duma on October 26, 1999, advocating a
merger between Russia and Belarus; and
Whereas Anatoly Lebedko, Chairman of the Committee for
International Affairs of the Supreme Soviet of the Re-
public of Belarus, Nikolay Statkevich, leader of the Social
Democratic Party, and Valery Shchukin, Deputy of the
Supreme Council, were arrested and imprisoned for tak-
ing part in the Freedom March: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That the Congress—
(1) condemns the current Belarusian regime;
(2) further condemns the arrests of Anatoly
Lebedko, Nikolay Statkevich, and Valery Shchukin;
(3) is gravely concerned about the disappear-
ances of Viktor Gonchar, Yuri Krasovsky, Yuri
Zakharenka, Tamara Vinnikova, and other members
of the opposition;
(4) calls for immediate dialogue between Presi-
dent Lukashenka and the Consultative Council of
Belarusian opposition and the restoration of a civil-
ian, democratically elected government in Belarus;
(5) calls for a duly constituted national legisla-
ture, the rule of law, and an independent judiciary;
(6) urges President Lukashenka to respect the
human rights of all Belarusian citizens, including
those members of the opposition who are currently
•HCON 230 IH
being illegally detained in violation of their constitu-
tional rights;
(7) further urges President Lukashenka to
make good on his promise to hold free parliamentary
elections in 2000;
(8) supports the appeal by the Consultative
Council of Belarusian opposition parties to the Gov-
ernment of Russia, the State Duma, and the Fed-
eration Council for a cessation of support for
Lukashenka’s regime;
(9) calls on the international community to sup-
port the opposition by continuing to meet with the
legitimately elected parliament; and
(10) calls on the President of the United States
to continue to—
(A) fund travel to the United States by the
Belarusian opposition figures;
(B) provide funding for the nongovern-
mental organizations in Belarus; and
(C) 
support 
information 
flows 
into
Belarus.
Æ