Alexander Alherdavich Dabravolski ( be, Алякс́андр Альѓертавіч Дабрав́ольскi; born November 23, 1958) is a
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
ian politician, lawyer, and
radio physicist.
He helped found the United Democratic Party of Belarus (UDPB) and became involved in the opposition, serving as the vice-chairman of
United Civil Party (UCP) from 1995 to 2006. He is currently the director of the East European School of Political Studies and a member of the Political Council of the
United Civil Party.
Education and family
Dabravolski was born in
Sula,
Stowbtsy District,
Minsk Voblast
Minsk Region or Minsk Oblast or Minsk Voblasts ( be, Мі́нская во́бласць, ''Minskaja voblasć'' ; russian: Минская о́бласть, ''Minskaya oblast'') is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center is Minsk, ...
,
Byelorussian SSR, and attended
Belarusian State University
Belarusian State University (BSU) ( be, links=no, Белару́скі дзяржа́ўны ўніверсітэ́т, ; russian: links=no, Белору́сский госуда́рственный университе́т) is a university in Mins ...
. In 1982, he graduated from the Radio Physical Department, and in 1995 he graduated from the department of law.
His wife is a teacher and his son and daughter are both students.
Career
He worked as an engineer-designer and a scientific fellow from 1982 to 1989 before he was elected as an MP of the
Supreme Soviet of the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
to represent the Minsk territorial district in 1989. He spent time working in the Committee on Industry before serving as vice-chairman in the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms.
In the First
Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, he became a member of the
Inter-regional Deputy Group – the first democratic parliamentary opposition in the USSR where he worked with
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( rus, Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ˈdmʲitrʲɪjevʲɪtɕ ˈsaxərəf; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, nobel laureate and activist for n ...
,
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
,
Anatoly Sobchak
Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak ( rus, Анатолий Александрович Собчак, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ sɐpˈtɕak; 10 August 1937 – 19 February 2000) was a Soviet and Russian politician, a co-author of the ...
, and
Vasil Bykov.
A delegate to the 1989 Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR from the Lenin Komsomol. His staff was headed by KGB Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Usoltsev, a former colleague of Vladimir Putin's in Dresden, as described in detail in his book "Sosluzhvets. Dobrolsky confirmed in an interview that a former colleague of Putin's was his chief of staff.
He was one of the founders of the United Democratic Party of Belarus (UDPB), established in 1990. The UDPB was the first opposition political party registered in Belarus.
From 1991 to 1995, he was the chairman of the UDPB. In 1995, the UDPB merged with the Civil Party, forming the
United Civil Party (UCP). He was soon elected as vice-chairman of the UCP. He served as the deputy director of the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies during this time from 1992 to 1995.
In the same year the elections to the
Supreme Council of Belarus
The Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus, sometimes translated as Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Вярхоўны Савет Рэспублікі Беларусь), was the unicameral legislature of Belarus between 1991 an ...
were held, the UCP created a parliamentary faction called "Civil action". Alexander Dabravolski was elected as an MP of the Supreme Council and headed the Subcommittee on Mass Media. In 1996 he was a representative of an MP group in the
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
for the impeachment of President
Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...
.
In November 1996, Alexander Dobrovolsky,
Anatoly Lebedko, and Liudmila Gryaznova supported the Communists' initiative to put the issue "On deepening integration with the Russian Federation" on the parliamentary agenda. The draft resolution on this issue proposed that by the end of 1996 Belarus and Russia unite into a single confederative state, and in the spring of 1997 this decision was to be "approved by the nation at large". The initiative disappeared after the dissolution of the Supreme Soviet.
In 2001,
during the presidential election, he was the deputy chairman of Headquarters of the United Opposition Single Candidate for President
Vladimir Goncharik. During the
2006 election, he was again deputy chairman of Headquarters of United Opposition Single Candidate for President
Alexander Milinkevich.
From 2007 to 2008, he was a member of the Presidium of Political Council of the
United Democratic Forces of Belarus
The United Democratic Forces of Belarus ( be, Аб'яднаныя дэмакратычныя сілы Беларусі; russian: Объединённые демократические силы) is a coalition of political parties that oppose t ...
. In 2007, he was elected chairman of the board. He has been the director of East European School of Political Studies (Project of Council of Europe) since 2008.
Dobrovolsky has been the head of all the election headquarters of Lukashenko's rivals in the elections since 1994. Does not have a single win for the candidate teams.
During the
2020 Belarusian protests Dabravolski became a member of the
Coordination Council of
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
Sviatlana Heorhiyeuna Tsikhanouskaya (' Pilipchuk;, , ; russian: Светлана Георгиевна Тихановская, , Svetlana Georgiyevna Tikhanovskaya, , , born 11 September 1982) is a Belarusian educator and the leader of the Bel ...
. Currently, he is Advisor to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Head of the Internal Policy Department of the Office of Svitalana Tsikhanouskaya.
Publications
* ''Criteria of Effectiveness of Economic Legislation'' Minsk: Open Society, 1998, #2 (6).
* ''Elections: Pure, Free and Fair''. Minsk, 1999. (Co-author).
* "Legal Barriers against Entrepreneurship Development" Minsk: Bulletin of the Economists’ Club, 2000, #4.
* ''Elections: Legal Basis, Electoral Technologies''. Minsk, 2000. (Co-Author).
* ''Political Parties: Belarus and Modern World''. Minsk, 2002. (Co-Author). Second edition: Minsk, 2005.
* ''Strategy of Electoral Campaign''. Minsk, 2004.
* Articles in Belarusian and foreign press.
References
External links
Who is who in Belarus at website of BDGAlexander Dabravolski at United Civil Party
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabravolski, Alexander
1958 births
Living people
People from Stowbtsy District
Belarusian democracy activists
Belarusian dissidents
Soviet engineers
20th-century engineers
United Civic Party of Belarus politicians
Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union
Members of the Supreme Council of Belarus
Belarusian State University alumni