Mr. Chairman, I would like to reply to last week's statement by my Belarusian colleague on the continued imprisonment of former Prime Minister Mikhail Chigir.

My colleague enumerated an impressive list of statutes of the criminal code that Mr. Chigir had reportedly violated.

What was missing, however, was an indication of the specific actions Mr. Chigir had taken in violation of the law; exactly how he had overstepped his authority; and how he had abused his position.

The vagueness and generality of the charges, as well as the lengthy time taken to file them, have given us the impression that the decision to arrest him was made first, and only later began the search for evidence.

This effort has all the hallmarks of a political persecution rather than a serious criminal investigation.

It is for this reason that the U.S. has joined the Belarusian opposition in calling for Mr. Chigir's immediate release.

I would compare this with another recent case that we believe is in contravention to OSCE principles as well.

The newspaper Naviny recently published a story critical of the Belarusian Head of National Security for building a luxurious house. There was no attempt at this point by the Belarusian criminal justice system to launch an investigation of potential corruption.

Instead, the government moved swiftly against the newspaper. The Belarusian court crushed the newspaper with an enormous libel settlement on behalf of the aggrieved public official.

To us, the lesson of these cases is clear. If you are a former official who has quarreled with the regime, they will spare no effort or imagination to convict you for some imagined infraction of the law. If, on the other hand, you serve the regime, not only will you not be investigated, but the full force of the state will come down against those who accuse you.

Mr. Chairman, it has now been over 90 days since President Lukashenko announced his desire to open a window to the West.

We were assured, both publicly and privately, that this was a serious initiative, and that specific measures would be soon forthcoming.

In the intervening period, we have seen the continued detention of Mr. Chigir, the miscarriage of justice in the case against Naviny, the closing of nine independent newspapers over the past two weeks, and the disappearance of Viktor Gonchar. And just yesterday, the Belarusian Government banned the opposition's March for Freedom, scheduled for this Sunday, October 17. We would hope to get an explanation for this, an explanation that points towards a democratic development in Belarus.