Lithuanian politicians decided to express their solidarity with the people of Belarus. For this purpose they invited dictator Lukashenka in Vilnius.

The Day of Solidarity is traditionally marked in Belarus on September 16. Pickets of solidarity with political prisoners and of memory of disappeared and repressed opposition activists will be held in the country and abroad.

Vice speaker of the Supreme Council of Belarus Viktar Hanchar and businessman and public figure Anatol Krasouski were kidnapped on that day ten years ago.

Viktar Hanchar, the first vice speaker of the 13th Supreme Council of Belarus and head of the Central Election Commission, and his friend businessman Anatol Krasouski disappeared in Minsk on September 16, 1999.

Earlier, opposition politician Yury Zakharanka, the former interior minister, disappeared in 1999. ORT camera operator Zmitser Zavadski disappeared in 2000.

International community states the fate of the missing Belarusian oppositionists should be cleared up. The UN Human Rights Committee, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and the OSCE demand to reveal the truth about these disappearances.

A number of high ranking Belarusian officials, namely former interior minster Uladzimir Navumau, former secretary of the Security Council Viktar Sheiman, former interior minister Yury Sivakou, and former commander of the special rapid response unit Dzmitry Paulichenka were banned entry to the EU countries and the United States because they are suspected of involvement in kidnapping the oppositionists.

Nevertheless, Alyaksandr Lukashenka has been able to visit the European Union for the first time in many years. He opens Belarus EXPO 2009 exhibition in Vilnius on invitation of the president of Lithuania. The Belarusian ruler was banned to enter the EU courtiers before for rigging the elections and referendum results and for human rights violations.

The Belarusian dictator is supposed to have meetings today with President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite and Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius.

Families of the kidnapped Belarusian oppositionists called on the Lithuanian president not to invite Lukashenka in Lithuania, because “there are serious proofs of involvement of top officials in the crimes” and “the Belarusian authorities demonstrate their unwillingness to investigate the cases of disappearances and ignore numerous demands of the Belarusian and world community”.

“The planned meeting of Lithuanian president and PM and dictator Lukashenka is a shock. Nobody expected this. Moreover, the meetings are scheduled for the Day of Belarusian Solidarity, on the tenth anniversary of kidnapping and killing of Viktar Hanchar and Anatol Krasouski. It’s hard to say who is more immoral: a Minsk riot militiaman beating a young oppositionist in her head or Lithuanian leadership helping the dictator to get new loans to maintain punitive units, death squads, and joint Belarusian-Russian military exercises,” Zmitser Bandarenka, the coordinator of the civil campaign “European Belarus”, told in an interview to www.charter97.org.

The democratic forces plan to hold a picket of memory of the disappeared opposition leaders at October Square in Minsk at 6:00 p.m. September 16. Members of the 12th and 13th Supreme Councils, families of Viktar Hanchar and Anatol Krasouski, activists of opposition political parties, youth and public associations and Minsk dwellers will take part in the picket.

Charter`97