Anatoly Lebedko
Encyclopedia
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
ian politician and the head of the United Civil Party of Belarus
United Civil Party of Belarus
The United Civil Party of Belarus is a centre-right, liberal-conservative party in Belarus. The party opposes the government of Alexander Lukashenko, generally participates in the country's elections, but doesn't have a single member in parliament...
.
Born in the village of Triles, then part of the Stoŭbtsy Raion
Stoŭbtsy Raion
Stoŭbtsy Raion is a second-level administrative subdivision of Belarus in the Minsk Region....
in the USSR's Minsk voblast (and now in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
), Lebedko emerged in the 1990s as one of the leading critics of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been serving as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has come to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line...
, whom Lebedko, along with other opposition leaders and many western governments, considers a dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
.
Lebedko's strident opposition to Lukashenka led to increasingly bitter confrontations with the Belarusian authorities through the late 1990s and into the 2000s. He was arrested numerous times for participating in unsanctioned protests and marches; was charged with libel against Lukashenko several times; and was beaten outside his home by masked men he alleges were connected to Lukashenko. Lebedko appears to have drawn particular ire for his relatively high visibility and frequent contact with groups outside Belarus, who Lukashenko accuses of meddling in Belarus's internal affairs. In particular, one of Lebedko's arrests came shortly after he had spoken on the floor of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in October 1999, prompting letters of protest from both bodies.
Following an October 2004 election, which combined a referendum on permitting Lukashenka a third term with parliamentary elections, Lebedko led slightly over a thousand opposition protestors into the streets of Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
on October 18 and 19. Lebedko and other opposition leaders charged that the elections were rigged, an accusation echoed by OSCE election monitors. During the second day of protests on October 19, Lebedko was arrested along with two other opposition leaders, Mikola Statkievich and Paval Sieviaryniets
Paval Sieviaryniets
Pavel Sieviaryniets is a Belarusian Journalist and Christian democratic politician and youth leader and one of the founders of the Malady Front.Paval Sieviaryniets was born in Orsha, Vitsebsk Voblast into a family of local intellectuals...
, as well as an Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
photographer who had been covering the protest. Lebedko's supporters claim he was severely beaten by riot police following his arrest; he ended up in the hospital, reportedly with fractured skull, broken ribs and internal injuries.
At the Congress of Democratic Forces in October 2005, he lost by just a few votes to Alaksandar Milinkievič
Alaksandar Milinkievic
Aliaksandr Uładzimiravič Milinkevič is a Belarusian politician. He was nominated by the leading opposition parties in Belarus to run against incumbent Alexander Lukashenko in the presidential election on 19 March 2006.-Biography:...
, who became (with Lebedko's subsequent support) the opposition's main choice for the 2006 presidential election
Belarusian presidential election, 2006
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 19 March 2006. The result was a victory for incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, who received 84.4% of the vote. However, western observers deemed the elections rigged...
.
External links
- Biography on United Civil Party of Belarus site
- US Senate speech on Lebedko's arrest (Senator Ben Nighthorse CampbellBen Nighthorse CampbellBenjamin Nighthorse Campbell is an American politician. He was a U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1993 until 2005 and was during his tenure the only American Indian serving in the U.S. Congress. Campbell was a three term U.S. Representative from 1987 to 1993, when he was sworn into office as a...
, October 22, 1999) - "'Little Stalin' tightens grip on Belarus" (The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, October 16, 2004) - "Dozens arrested at Belarus rally" (BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, October 19, 2004) - "In Belarus, Police Arrest Opponent of President" (The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, October 20, 2004)