Opposition Activists Establish Belarusian Christian Democracy

On 1 September a group of opposition activists held a founding conference for an association named Belarusian Christian Democracy (BCD) in Minsk on Saturday, BelaPAN reported.

The activists approved the organization`s charter and elected five people – Mikalai Artsiukhou, Heorhi Dzmitruk, Vital Rymasheuski, Pavel Seviarynets and Aliaksei Shein – as its co-chairpersons.

The activists used the meeting to discuss proposals for promoting Christian and family values and national historical and cultural heritage among Belarusians.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Shein said that many families in Belarus were destroyed by alcohol abuse and sounded an alarm over a high number of abortions and divorces in the country.

Mr. Rymasheuski spoke about the group`s effort to raise the public`s awareness about Stalinist purges on the territory of Belarus, organizing trips to Soviet-era mass graves and meetings with former GULag prisoners. He noted that BCD activists in Homel were working to prevent authorities from concealing true findings about a newly discovered mass grave near the city in southeastern Belarus. The organization believes that the grave contains the remains of Stalin terror victims and fears that authorities may deny this and describe the site as a World War II mass grave.

The BCD activists also discussed matters related to the organization of a founding conference for a political party under the same name, which they plan to hold either later this year or in early 2008.