E/CN.4/2000/9 page 29 army by acts including putting up barricades, in relation to which a case had been registered with the local police and was pending trial. 125. Concerning Shima Chowdhury, the Government replied that the case had been investigated in several stages. It stated that the Intelligence Department of the police force had filed a charge sheet against the police officers allegedly involved. The case was then tried by a special tribunal of judges in Chittagong and all the accused police officers had been acquitted. The Government further stated that an appeal against the ruling had been filed in the High Court division and was pending hearing. 126. The Government indicated that other remaining allegations transmitted previously are being investigated and its replies to these allegations will be transmitted in due course. Belarus Regular communications and replies received 127. By letter dated 29 November 1999, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information according to which several demonstrations had been violently dispersed by the police, especially anti-riot police. In particular, the Special Rapporteur has received information on the following incidents. 128. On 2 March 1998, members of the Belarusian People's Front (BPF), an opposition political party, reportedly participated in an official meeting commemorating the signing of the Russia-Belarus Union Charter on Yakub Kolas square in central Minsk. A number of men in plain-clothes reportedly started to beat and detain BPF and Youth Front members shortly after they had begun to disperse. In particular, Vyacheslav Sivchyk, the executive secretary of BFP, was allegedly beaten and kicked as he was lying on the ground at the time of arrest. The following day, he was reportedly sentenced by the Minsk Central District Court to 10 days' imprisonment for holding an unsanctioned demonstration. Following the trial, he was reportedly taken to the Central District Remand Centre, where he is said to have lost consciousness. He was then reportedly taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed as suffering from severe skull and cerebral trauma. He was discharged from the hospital and allowed to go home on 6 April 1998. 129. Irina Khalip, the editor of the weekly Belarusian language newspaper Imya, and her father, Uladzimir Khalip, were reportedly arrested and severely beaten on 2 April 1997 while they were attending a demonstration to protest the signing of the Russia-Belarus Union Charter. Many demonstrators, including a number of journalists, are said to have been severely beaten at the time of arrest. Irina Khalip was allegedly beaten on her back with batons and dragged by her hair through the lines of the riot police. Each policeman is said to have hit and kicked her. Upon arrival at the police station, Uladzimir Khalip is said to have lost consciousness and to have subsequently been hospitalized for treatment, particularly for severe kidney contusion. In September 1997, he again required hospitalization. According to the information received, doctors informed his family that he had irreversible damage as a result of his head injury. An official complaint was reportedly lodged with the Minsk city procurator. Irina Khalip reportedly received notification from the procurator that the complaint had been registered and that a criminal investigation had