Current

Attn: Mr. Alexander Lukashenko,
President of the Republic of Belarus
Minsk, 38 Karl Marx Str.
220016 Belarus

Cc: Supreme Economic Court of the Republic of Belarus
Chairman of Minsk City Executive Committee
Secretary-General of the United Nations
Chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
President of the European Commission
Chairman of European Parliament
Chairman of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
Chairman of Minsk City Executive Committee
Embassy of Belarus in Bulgaria
Lawyers Without Borders
Bulgarian Embassy in Belarus
Amnesty International
Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

Sofia, 17 March, 2008

Dear Mr. Lukashenko,

It has come to our attention that on March 13th the Deputy Executive of the Central Minsk District Dmitry Novitski, sent Pastor Viacheslav Goncharenko of Minsk a letter demanding him and his family to vacate his house and demolish it by March 18, 2008.

Mr. Goncharenko is the founder and Senior Pastor of New Life Church in Minsk.

According to a press release of New Life Church, Mr. Goncharenko's house was built in the year 2000 in accordance with the Frunzenski district executive committee permission. Sometime later the property came under the jurisdiction of the Central District and the administration began claiming the initial permission to build the house was improper. As a result of the Central District Administration denial, Mr. Goncharenko appealed to a court, which hearing is set to take place on March 31, 2008.

While on surface level the situation with pastor Goncharenko may appear to be only a random property dispute, the history of the case and the facts show differently. It is clear that the Belarusian authorities' determination to harass the pastor and his family are closely related to the case of New Life Church.

We as part of the international community are aware of the tension between the Government of Belarus and New Life Church.

As freedom loving and free thinking people, we cannot remain silent against such gross violation of human rights and human dignity. No government should ever have the right to order people to vacate and demolish their own homes in four days! No administrative dispute, even if it had some legal grounds (which it doesn't in this case according to our information) deserves such outrageous action as demonstrated by the Minsk authorities in question.

We demand that the government immediately reconsiders its actions against Viacheslav Goncharenko and his family, as well as their actions against New Life Church. As Bulgarian citizens and Europeans who share the democratic values of a free society, we demand the Minsk authorities responsible for these immoral actions immediately cease their intentions of forcing the pastor and his family out of their home and possibly demolishing it.

This latest case is not the only case of violation of human rights in Belarus and it might not even be the worst. However, we have chosen this drastic case to mark the beginning of a systematic and dedicated Bulgarian led campaign for the defense of liberty, democracy and human rights in Belarus.

The newly established Bulgarian Committee for Defense of Liberty, Democracy and Human Rights in Belarus will inform society of the actions taken by the Belarusian government against its own citizens. Further, we will offer an in-depth analysis of the relationships between Bulgaria and Belarus, and possible foreign policy recommendations to the Bulgarian government should we discover that Bulgaria in any way has been or is at present an ally whether actively or passively to the authoritarian regime in Belarus.

It's our moral and human obligation to raise our voices against the practices of any abusive, totalitarian government, but especially when this happens in 21st century Europe.

The Bulgarian Committee for Defense
of Liberty, Democracy and Human Rights in Belarus
George Bakalov
Diana Daskalova
Stoil Stoilov
Sofia 1202, 26 Veslets Str., Bulgaria
tel. (+359) 895 44 67 22