Please forward this notice to all concerned. Together we can make a difference POLES IN BRZESC NEED OUR HELP!!! PROTEST LUKASHENKO'S OUTRAGES!!! FAX THE BELARUSAN EMBASSY!!! Rodacy! Charter '97, the most active human rights organization in Belarus, has reported that Fr. Zbigniew Karolak will be deported from Brest to Poland (see posting from Charter's website at www.charter97.org ). This may happen in just a few days. Time is short! Fr. Karolak's only crime is that he has served well his flock, most of them Poles. Fr. Karolak came to Belarus ten years ago and the Lukashenko regime has harassed him from time to time. The latest round of harassment began in March, when Lukashenko's police arrested Fr. Karolak in March, literally taking him by force from his church. The regime accused him of supposed visa irregularities. Only protests by his parishioners saved Fr. Karolak from deportation and gained his release. The Lukashenko regime took revenge on the leaders of these protests, starting court cases against them. The Polish community represents a bastion of anti-regime strength that the dictator cannot abide. By deporting this brave man, the regime hopes to weaken the Poles of Belarus and thus opposition to Soviet-style rule. The people of Belarus have long faced repression, first from the Soviets, now from the Soviet hold-over regime. This repressive dictatorship will do anything to the people of Belarus to stay in power and its actions constitute a grave threat to the security of Poland, Europe, and the world. This has become glaringly clear as Belarus has now agreed to help Iraq upgrade its air defense system to allow it to attack American and allied aircraft. It is not only ethnic Belarusins who suffer under the lash of Lukashenko. Our Polish brothers and sisters in Brest now face their hour of trial. The Belarusan opposition has stood by them, as the fact that Charter '97 raised the issue shows, can we do any less? Dictators, especially Soviet-style ones like Lukashenko, cannot stand when it turns out that people are watching and condemning their foul deeds. Let Lukashenko know he cannot hide his harassment of the Polish minority and Catholic Church! Let him know that someone cares! Fax his ambassador in Washington D.C.!! As Mickiewicz said "Jesli o nich zapomne, to Ty Panie Boze zapomnij o mnie." Below you will find a form letter to print off and send please modify it as you see fit. Please fax this letter in the next 2-3 days! Below you will also find a news release from Charter '97, a brave group of human rights activists working for a free Belarus. John Radzilowski President Polish American Cultural Institute of Minnesota SAMPLE PROTEST LETTER --- USE OR WRITE YOUR OWN: ****************************** May 26, 2000 H.E. Valery Tsepkalo Ambassador Embassy of the Republic of Belarus 1615 New Hampshire Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20009 FAX: (202) 986-1805 Dear Ambassador Tsepkalo: I am writing to protest the continued harassment by your government of Fr. Zbigniew Karolak, a Polish Roman Catholic priest at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Brest. Fr. Karolak has served his parishioners and the Church well over the past 10 years. His arrest in march, being drug out of his church without even being allowed to genuflect, and threats to deport him are an outrage. Such actions violate international obligations to respect freedom of religion the rights of minorities, including the Polish minority in Belarus. These outrages, which your government is committing, even violate the guarantees of Belarus's own constitution (either that of 1994 or 1996). I urge you and your government to live up to the obligations, which it has freely taken, to respect freedom of religion and the rights of minorities. Fr. Karolak must be left to serve his flock and the Lord in peace. He must not be deported. As a member of the Polish community in the United States, I will not forget my brothers and sisters in Belarus. If your government continues with its harassment of Fr. Karolak and the Polish minority, I will work to see that the U.S. Government enacts sanctions against the Lukshenko government. Sincerely, ****************************************** >From Charter '97 website: Catholic priest from the Holy Cross Cathedral, citizen of Poland, father Zbignev Karolak has been obliged to leave the country by June 1 at the latest. If he does it not, force will be applied against him to get him out of Belarus, said to BelaPAN May 22 Arkady Kastuchits – chief of the Leninsky police station of Brest. Brest authorities have numerously declared the deadline before which the priest has to leave the country – first it was April 14, later it got changed for May 20. In neither cases, though, did the law-enforcers undertake active steps to force father Karolak out. Partially this is a tribute to the parishioners who courageously fought for their priest. The regional officials claim that Belarus Vice-Premier Vladimir Zametalin and chief of the Catholic church in Belarus cardinal Kazimir Sventak allegedly agreed on Korolak's leaving the country by June 1, 2000. In a telephone conversation with other Catholic priests the head of the Catholic priesthood reportedly called everything "lies" and said that he had never signed any document with Zametalin, concerning father Karolak. BelaPAN attempts to clarify the issue failed – Kazimir Sventak simply refuses to discuss the matter. As for father Karolak himself, he also refuses to talk to journalists.
