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  • You helped us raise money for a legal conference in Nuremberg — here's what it went to

    On October 11, the National Anti-Crisis Management held a legal conference in Nuremberg. There, together with politicians, lawyers and human rights activists, we adopted a declaration and an action plan to help bring the criminals of the Lukashenka regime closer to justice. Thanks to the conference, we established new contacts with politicians, lawyers and NGO representatives, and determined the algorithm of further actions to put legal pressure on the regime in order to bring the perpetrators to international criminal responsibility. Before the conference, we organized a fundraiser for the costs of organizing it. At the time of publication, you have helped raise 9,594.67 euros. Thank you to everyone who transferred money and participated in the organization of the conference — without you it would not have happened. We appreciate your contribution! The total cost was 11,686.43 euros. That’s where the money went: accommodation of the team and speakers in Nuremberg — 1821.44 euros; tickets for transportation to and from the conference venue for the team and speakers — 2662.08 euros; conference room rental, coffee breaks, a visit to the Nuremberg Trials Museum, stationery and booklets — 2327.24 euros; Microphones, cameras and other equipment, work of technicians and interpreters for online broadcasts — 4048 euros; PayPal commission and blocked amounts due to bots (mass transfers of $ 1 to stop the collection) — 827.67 euros. We need another 2091.76 euros to cover the full cost. You can help us with this — the collection on PayPal is ongoing. To make the transfer, you need an account in the payment system. You can transfer funds from the link in your profile. We will tell you about further steps to increase the legal pressure on the regime in the coming days.

  • ICAO again postpones Ryanair incident report

    ICAO again postponed the Ryanair incident report — and we provide the aviation law expert’s assessment The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) announced that the report on the incident with the Ryanair plane landing at the Minsk airport will be made public only on February 22, 2022. A number of experts, however, already have an opinion about the dictator’s act: this is a criminal offense. Among them is Elmar Giemulla, professor of aviation law and flight safety at the Berlin Institute and a number of other universities. In October, Elmar Giemulla spoke at a conference organized by the NAM in Nuremberg with a legal assessment of the incident. We have selected the main points: Belarus joined the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation — the "Chicago Convention" — in 1993. The country has not signed the so-called transit agreement whereby states multilaterally guarantee unimpeded passage through their airspace. But this does not mean that it can do whatever it wants in its airspace. According to the "Chicago Convention", all aircrafts can fly over the territories of the signatory states without landing. A forced landing should serve to prevent a hazard, and this hazard should be more dangerous than the consequences of a forced landing. In this case, it was not like that. Belarus has clearly violated the "Chicago Agreement". In the absence of justification, this incident is nothing more than a government-sponsored hijacking. This is a violation of the 1970 Hague Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, which Belarus signed in 1971. Thus, the forced landing of a Ryanair aircraft is not only a violation of international law, but also a criminal offense. The Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation of 1971, which Belarus joined in 1973, provides: anyone who deliberately, unlawfully and knowingly provides incorrect information and thereby endangers the safety of an aircraft in flight, is subject to criminal prosecution. The full text of the report in English can be found here.

  • The year of the NAM's work: we accept acute questions instead of congratulations and gifts

    One year ago, on October 28, 2020, the National Anti-Crisis Management was founded. Belarusian professionals from different spheres — politics, economy, culture, marketing — united under Pavel Latushka to oppose the Lukashenka regime and prepare the country for the transition from dictatorship to democracy. So that all of us, as soon as possible, could build a New Belarus. A free Belarus. Democratic. Developing. We, the NAM team, believe that given the ongoing crisis in our homeland, this anniversary is not something worth celebrating. And we sincerely hope that the NAM — in its current form as an organization — will not have a second birthday. That the victory over the regime will happen sooner, a legitimate democratic government will be established in the country, and we will be able to work for the benefit of the people as part of it. Be that as it may, the birthday is an occasion to take some stock. In addition, one of the fundamental principles of the NAM’s work is transparency and accountability to the Belarusian society. That’s why today we’re announcing a big stream, which will take place next week. The key members of the team, including the Head of the NAM Pavel Latushka, will conduct a "debriefing" on the work already done and the current work, try to look into the future and, most importantly, answer your most pressing questions. Everyone will be able to join the meeting. We will share the details, including details about the venue, where translation will be held, in the next few days — stay tuned! Thanks for being with us this year. Together we can do anything. Long Live Belarus! With love for Belarus and faith in a speedy victory, your the NAM team.

  • Statement by the leader of the NAM Pavel Latushka in response to the announcement of a strike by the Belarusian workers' union

    The preparation of a strike is an important element of the strategic proposals previously mentioned by the NAM. And we support the strike, but precisely prepared — as a powerful instrument of pressure on the regime and victory over it. We also certainly support the idea of staying at home — first of all, as a way to protect your health and life. In the current epidemiological situation, it is important that such motivation resonates with Belarusians, becoming one of the serious prerequisites for turning self-isolation into a strike. At the same time, we continue to demand from the regime: — to introduce a lockdown in the country and cancel all public events, as all civilized countries, as well as Russia, did; — show real statistics on the incidence of COVID-19 and mortality from the virus; — open borders for Belarusians so that they can get access to European vaccines; — open access to Belarus for humanitarian missions. Also, the leaders of the democratic forces of Belarus sent a letter to the leadership of the EU, the EU countries and the leadership of COVAX with an appeal to urgently provide assistance to Belarus in the amount of at least a million doses of vaccines. And we will demand from the regime to accept this help. We continue to work on external and internal pressure on the regime — with the aim of weakening it and maximizing the effect of a future strike. We stand for responsibility and coordination, and therefore we urge: 1) all leaders of the labor movement and democratic forces in the near future hold a general meeting, discuss the degree of readiness for a strike, fix the necessary actions to achieve this readiness, as well as prepare proposals for Belarusians — and return to the plan and a comprehensive strategy of action, where responsibility will be indicated each and the role of the strike to achieve victory; 2) based on the results of the meeting, adopt a joint resolution and a unified plan of concrete actions on the strike. Time to act together. And together be responsible for our decisions.

  • EU-recognized free vaccines may appear in Belarus

    Joint appeal of the Democratic Forces On October 26, the leaders of the democratic forces of Belarus sent a letter to the leadership of the EU, the EU member states and the leadership of COVAX with an appeal to urgently provide assistance to Belarus in the amount of at least a million doses of vaccines. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Head of the NAM Pavel Latushka, member of the CC Presidium Olga Kovalkova, CC representative for political prisoners Tatyana Khomich, Head of the Cabinet of Representatives Valery Kovalevsky, representative of the Medical Solidarity Fund Andrei Tkachev appealed to Belarusians: "Back in the spring we worked with the European Commission and COVAX to bring vaccines to Belarus. We were looking for ways to do this — through the UN, religious organizations. But then these decisions remained unfulfilled — and we see the consequences now. The situation continues to worsen. Therefore, for the sake of the health of Belarusians, it is necessary to unite efforts to accept the help of our neighbors and the international community. Today, on behalf of all democratic forces, we sent a letter to the EU leadership, the EU member states and the COVAX leadership. We urge to urgently provide assistance to Belarus in the amount of at least one million doses of vaccines. We are not "throwing an idea". We offer a tool that will help a million of Belarusian people. All that is required from the Ministry of Health is to agree. We do this because for us a pandemic is not politics, it is the health and lives of people. And now our task and responsibility is to take care of our health and the health of our loved ones; help doctors who have been heroically fighting the pandemic for a year and a half, help us. • Wear masks. • Get the vaccine that is currently available. • Avoid public places and events and stay at home whenever possible. Take care of yourself. Your families need you, your country needs you, we all need you."

  • Protect yourself and loved ones from the coronavirus

    We take matters into our own hands again: protect yourself and loved ones from coronavirus The illegitimate government of Belarus is unable to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Therefore, Belarusians should take the fight against coronavirus under their personal control. There are three simple measures to help everyone protect themselves from the virus: get a vaccination; wear a mask in public; stay at home if possible and avoid crowded places. To help other Belarusians protect themselves from the coronavirus, tell them about these simple steps. Send them this post or tell them verbally. You can also download a leaflet from the White Coats Medical Initiative and distribute it among your neighbors in your driveway, home, or the whole neighborhood. Download the Fight Against Coronavirus Flyer Only we are able to protect ourselves and our families. And so we are taking the fight against coronavirus into our own hands!

  • Power must pass into the hands of the people. On October 30, the II World Congress of Belarusians will be held online

    The goal of the II World Congress of Belarusians is to discuss important topics for us, to show that we are together, we are strength, and we can achieve the dream that lives in each of us. Today we are writing the history that will become the history of the nation — the Belarusian people — and we must take responsibility for it. You choose the topics and the experts who will discuss them — through a special form on the Congress website. You can both suggest what to discuss and decide whose thoughts you want to hear during the event. Pavel Latushka, Head of the NAM, suggested discussing and outlining the main tools and actions that will lead us to a new Belarus: the expediency of creating institutions of people’s power; Achieving international non-recognition of Lukashenko and his government; determination of the legal status of the dictator and his accomplices as criminals; Preparation of the All-Belarusian strike; Expanding the activism of Belarusians both at home and abroad, using the platform of the Peramoga plan; Expanding forms of peaceful protest movement; confronting the threat of a takeover of Belarus by Russia. It is important that the Congress approve the resolution of strategic directions. We invite all Belarusians to participate. Long live Belarus!

  • New Zealand does not recognize Lukashenka and his government

    Head of the NAM Pavel Latushka received a letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Nanai Mahuto. In the letter, the foreign minister said that New Zealand has a long-standing policy of not accepting official acts of recognition from governments, preferring that recognition can be judged by the nature and level of relations with a foreign government. The representative of the government stressed that New Zealand has suspended high-level bilateral political (inter-ministerial) relations with Belarus, including at the level of ambassadors of the two countries. New Zealand also added more than 70 persons associated with the regime to the sanctions list, including Lukashenka himself, members of his administration, election commissions, as well as businessmen and law enforcement officials. The letter notes that New Zealand does not provide Belarus with any financial, humanitarian or technical assistance. — I welcome the decision of the New Zealand government to completely end relations with the Lukashenka regime, which usurped power in Belarus, which means non-recognition of Lukashenka and his government. I express the hope that New Zealand will continue to support the aspirations of the civil society of Belarus in building a democratic state, — noted Pavel Latushka. Earlier, the non-recognition of Lukashenko and his government was also indicated in the resolution of the European Parliament of October 7, 2021. Letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand.

  • We present the people's draft of the Constitution and together decide its future fate

    On October 14, the Public Constitutional Commission presented the people’s draft of the Constitution — a document written by a working group together with citizens, experts and representatives of the democratic forces. Its text is based on the draft Constitution of New Belarus and takes into account the real interests of people, including their suggestions and comments, as well as the results of a poll, where thousands of Belarusians expressed their opinions. How exactly we created our, people’s draft of the Constitution — let’s remember together in cards. We urge not only to study the project, but also to take part in deciding its further fate and the strategy of supporters of changes in the framework of the constitutional reform as a whole. We invite you to complete a new survey by October 31, which requires only one answer. Check out our draft Basic Law and take part in the survey through the platform’s chatbot *Honest choice in Telegram or Viber. What’s happening? The Public Constitutional Commission (PCC) presented a people’s draft of the Constitution, written jointly with citizens on the basis of the draft Constitution of New Belarus. The document, which, in turn, was created over several years, taking into account the opinion of Belarusians, domestic and foreign experts, international experience and the shortcomings of the previous and existing editions. While the Constitutional Commission of the regime is still preparing its draft of the Basic Law, in fact, in secret from the public, we have shown how democratic mechanisms should work. And in the coming days, citizens will express themselves whether they like the result and what further actions, in their opinion, should be taken. Learn the document and participate in the poll on the platform chatbots *Honest choice by the end of October! Let us summarize what we have all achieved together and what we have arrived at as part of the People’s Constitution campaign over the past three months, and talk about the future. Appeals to the Constitutional Commission The Belarusians did not put up with the choice that the illegitimate power hopes to impose: between the existing Constitution, written by the dictator "for himself," and the new, even more beneficial to him. Several thousand citizens sent appeals to the Constitutional Commission demanding that the people’s draft of the Basic Law will be submitted to a referendum, whether organized by the regime or initiated by society. In addition, representatives of the democratic forces and the PCC sent similar appeals to the House of Representatives. Public Discussions From July 6 to September 12, public discussions of the draft Constitution of New Belarus took place. Anyone could leave a proposal or ask a question on a site convenient for him or her: on the Kanstytucyja. online website, in the chatbot of the Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Office, in the social networks of the democratic forces. The response turned out to be so active that it was even necessary to extend the deadlines for receiving and processing opinions. In total, the PCC received almost 1600 substantive proposals, questions and comments. The most popular sections are: Section II: "Rights and Freedoms": more than 520 reviews Section IV: "Legislative and Executive Branch": more than 360 reviews Section I: "Fundamentals of the Constitutional System": more than 160 reviews Proposals were recorded in a publicly available table with comments and decisions of the PCC. Those who disagreed with the verdict of the JCC on their own proposal could file an appeal — 5 people took advantage of this right. People’s poll In addition, on the platform *Honest Choice, a survey was conducted on a number of the most important provisions of the Constitution. Here’s what the citizens voted for: the President should be elected by the people (92.3%), and ideally the head of the executive branch should be the Prime Minister (68.6%), independently appointed by the Parliament (68.7%) government should be accountable to Parliament (90%) Parliament should be bicameral (55.2%) and called Seim (26.1%) judges should be appointed by a body independent of the executive and legislative branches (83.9%) heads of executive bodies of local self-government should be elected by residents (65.1%) and be accountable to the Council of Deputies (74.8%) the state languages in Belarus must be Belarusian and Russian (50.3%) Discussion results All the results of the poll were taken into account in the people’s draft of the Constitution. With one exception: after debates within the PCC working group and consultations with experts, the Parliament decided to leave the document unicameral. As for the proposals of citizens, the PCC accepted dozens of them — and this is not counting the "technical" ones. Considering the reviews regarding the content of the people’s draft of the Constitution, the commission proceeded primarily from the persuasiveness of the arguments. Substantive, according to the JCC, proposals were discussed within the working group, evaluated from the point of view of world experience and expert recommendations — and only after that a decision was made on them, if necessary — by voting. Who else made the decisions? During the People’s Constitution campaign, the PCC held regular meetings not only as part of the working group, but also together with the Campaign Council (representatives of the Coordination Council, the Cabinet of Representatives of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and the National Anti-Crisis Management), Belarusian and foreign experts. It was finally decided which norms and amendments and how exactly to integrate them into the people’s draft of the Basic Law. In addition, within the framework of the campaign, 4 open sessions of the platform of people’s representatives of the SHOD took place, where delegates and members of the PCC discussed feedback on selected topics with citizens. The version of the document presented today was approved at a meeting of the JCC and the Campaign Council on October 8. "People's Constitution" in numbers Let’s take a look at our Basic Law campaign in numbers: at least 1.5 million people have seen, heard and read about the campaign almost 17,000 citizens have registered on the platform * Fair choice 3439 users reported that they sent an appeal with a requirement to consider our project to the Constitutional Commission almost 8,400 Belarusians took part in a survey on the most important provisions of the Constitution about 1600 proposals, questions and comments from citizens were submitted to the Public Constitutional Commission; What’s next? So, we have a people’s draft of the Constitution — you can get acquainted with it on the websites Kanstytucyja.online and Narodnaja.com. And now we want to ask you whether, in your opinion, it is ready to be submitted to a referendum, whether it suits each of you as a citizen, and what should be the further actions of Belarusians regarding the Basic Law of the country in the current realities. Until October 31, the organizers of the "People's Constitution" campaign are conducting a poll, where Belarusians express their opinion about the document. Join us! To stay up to date with the news and be able to participate in the poll and other activities of the "People's Constitution" campaign, be sure to register on the platform *Honest choice: via Telegram via Viber Regardless of whether the illegitimate government will submit our draft Constitution to a referendum, we will not pass by the plebiscite itself announced by it. We are convinced that a boycott will be the best gift for the regime, that a referendum is an excellent reason to mobilize, and constitutional reform as a whole is an agenda that supporters of change must seize, hold and turn in their favor. Exactly how we say "no" to the dictatorship on the election day assigned to it — we spoil the ballots, stay at the polling stations, something else — we will decide together. But let’s say it is necessary. And when we win, we will already have a truly popular draft of the Constitution — the foundation for the New Belarus, where there will be no place for dictatorship.

  • Only together we will stop crimes in Belarus

    Statement by the participants of the legal conference in Nuremberg — We, the participants of the legal conference in Nuremberg, consider it necessary to state the following: 1. We state the existence of numerous evidences of the crimes of the Lukashenka regime against humanity and the state of legal default in Belarus. Therefore, we urge the countries where the victims of Belarus are located to help in initiating criminal cases under universal jurisdiction and their prompt consideration. 2. The actions of the Lukashenka regime have signs of international terrorism on the basis of international conventions. Therefore, we call on the countries whose interests were affected by the actions of the regime to initiate the question of including Alexander Lukashenka on the list of terrorists. 3. There is every reason to establish an international mechanism to investigate human rights violations. This is stated in the OSCE report, evidence of crimes is collected by the UN Human Rights Council, the tribunal is mentioned in the resolution of the European Parliament. Therefore, the world community should, as a matter of priority, make a decision to establish an ad hoc international tribunal to investigate the crimes of the Lukashenka regime. 4. We call on democratic countries to officially declare their non-recognition of Alexander Lukashenko as President of Belarus and his government. These people have no legal or moral right to represent the interests of the Belarusian people. How long the crimes in Belarus will last depends only on us. Only together we will stop them, — said the conference participants. Declaration of the participants of the legal conference in Nuremberg Fundraising for the organization of the conference. You helped us raise almost the entire amount needed, but we need a little more to cover the costs.

  • Belarusian Foreign Ministry proposed the French Ambassador to Minsk to leave the country

    The Belarusian Foreign Ministry proposed the French Ambassador to Minsk to leave the country. Earlier, the Belarusian ambassador was recalled from Paris According to information received by the NAM from several unrelated sources in the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, the Belarusian Ambassador to France Igor Fisenko was unexpectedly recalled to Minsk. The official reason is supposedly a business trip. But the real reason, according to our information, is different. The fact is that the Belarusian Foreign Ministry initiated the proposal to the French Ambassador to Belarus Nicolas Dyuik to leave Belarus no later than October 18. This is due to the fact that France still does not agree that the ambassador should present his credentials to citizen Aleksandr Lukashenka. According to Pavel Latushka, the head of the NAM and the former ambassador of Belarus to France, by the expulsion of the French ambassador, the Belarusian side is trying to put pressure on the French authorities in order to achieve recognition of Lukashenka. This is absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of the democratic forces and the majority of Belarusians. Pavel Latushka stressed that the democratic forces of Belarus are grateful to official Paris for a clear and consistent position on the issue of non-recognition of Aleksandr Lukashenko and support of the Belarusian civil society.

  • Declaration of the participants of the Nuremberg Legal Conference

    The Head of the NAM Pavel Latushka summarized the results of the legal conference in Nuremberg on the crimes of Lukashenka’s regime: the participants approved the Declaration of the conference. — The regime’s crimes have never been so massive as they began last summer — and are still continuing right this very minute. And they will not stop, I hope everyone understands this very well, until we stop them. Only our actions — of Belarusians, neighbors and all democratic countries in general — determine when crimes against humanity will stop in Belarus. It is in our power to stop it. We must step up international legal pressure on the regime. In all the areas that we have discussed today — and that we have indicated in the Declaration of the participants of today’s conference. It is the official international non-recognition of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and his government. It is the acceleration of already initiated and the initiation of new criminal cases under universal jurisdiction. It is the recognition of Lukashenka’s regime as a terrorist and adding him to the list of terrorists. It is the creation of an international ad hoc tribunal to investigate crimes against humanity committed in Belarus by the Lukashenko regime over all the years of its rule. Once again: it depends only on us how long Lukashenka’s criminals will continue terrorizing Belarus, as well as the whole of Europe. Let’s do everything to make the Belarusian people free and get rid of the terrorist threat in the center of Europe," said Pavel Latushka. Declaration of the participants in the Nuremberg Legal Conference

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