PACE adopts resolution on Belarus

European MPs are urging to release political prisoners, organize a reelection and impose visa sanctions on Belarusian officials. Russia’s representatives claim the election was fair.

Finnish MP Sinikka Hurskainen who spoke on behalf of the PACE Political Affairs Committee, began the debates in Strasbourg.

She noted that she had hoped there would have been some changes in Belarus, but she had been greatly disappointed. That is why the PACE should take a clear position as regards our country and not to return the special guest status in the Parliamentary Assembly to the Belarusian Parliament.
European MPs have urged to release political prisoners, organize a reelection, impose visa sanctions of Belarusian officials and support the civil community. Russia’s representatives claim that the election was fair, that Alyaksandr Lukashenka was very popular and that the police did not use brute force against demonstrators.

Lord Tomlinson from Great Britain addressed his “Russian friends” (Gennadii Zyuganov, Sergei Sobko – CPRF, Oleg Lebedev, Igor Chernyshenko and others) and asked them not to turn logics upside down. “Belarus knows what to do to join the international community. You should not pass the responsibility to us. Belarus should account for the fulfillment of the provisions expressed in international resolutions”, - he claimed.

A Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris objected to the statement made by the Russian parliamentarian who said that no special means had been used to disperse demonstrators. Being the chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Sejm, he referred to the testimony of some Belarusian refugees who had arrived in Vilnius. They claimed that the police and special services had used brute force for no reason. However, the majority of MPs voted contra the amendment concerning the use of special means during the dispersal.

Gennadii Zyuganov objected to the amendment to the resolution that urged European political parties to support their Belarusian parties-counterparts the leaders of which had been imprisoned. According to Zyuganov, it was “rude interference in Belarus’ internal affairs”. However, the amendment was adopted by the majority of parliamentarians. 

EUROPEAN RADIO FOR BELARUS

The situation in Belarus in the aftermath of the presidential election

Resolution 1790 (2011)¹

1.       The Parliamentary Assembly is dismayed by the unprecedented wave of violence, intimidation, mass arrests and prosecution of political opponents, human rights defenders, media workers, students and citizens of Belarus that followed the announcement of the results of the presidential election that took place in Belarus on 19 December 2010.

2.       Over 600 people were arrested, including presidential candidates, whereas assaults and searches were carried out in the homes of opposition leaders, human rights defenders and journalists as well as on the premises of several non-governmental organisations and media outlets. In the month that followed the election, the crackdown continued in a more targeted way and today still shows no signs of relenting. Such a violent repression of the political protests and targeted crackdown on political opponents, human rights defenders and media workers constitutes not only a disproportionate response to the action of the protesters but also an outright disregard for the core values upheld by the Council of Europe.

3.       Warmly welcoming the European Parliament Resolution of 20 January 2011 on the situation in Belarus, the Assembly in particular condemns the detention by security forces since 19 December 2010 of Irina Khalip, internationally recognised journalist with the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and the brutally wounded presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, as well as the authorities' threat to put their 3-year-old son into a state orphanage. The Assembly also condemns the continued detention of Natalya Radina, editor of the website Charter 97, who was detained when the office of this website was raided by security forces in Minsk on 20 December 2010.

4.       The Assembly reiterates its conviction that political freedoms need to be fully respected and that all individuals and groups must be able to exercise peacefully their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, including when harshly criticising the authorities and the conduct of the elections.

5.       The Assembly regrets that, according to the OSCE preliminary assessment of the latest presidential election, Belarus, despite some specific improvements in the election system and during the campaign, still has a considerable way to go to meet the OSCE commitments, including a number of key international standards for democratic elections, such as transparency and accountability in the vote count, and were marked by the lack of equitable access to the media for all candidates and the unfair use of state resources to support the incumbent.

6.       The Assembly further deplores the Belarusian authorities’ decision not to prolong the mandate of the OSCE office in Minsk, which has maintained a presence in Belarus since 1998.

7.       In the light of the above, the Assembly urges the Belarusian authorities to:

      7.1.       release immediately all opposition candidates and their supporters, journalists and human rights defenders detained on political grounds;

      7.2.       cease harassment and intimidation of opposition politicians, media and civil society representatives;

      7.3.       conduct a transparent investigation into the abusive and disproportionate use of force by police and security forces against the demonstrators;

      7.4.       stop expelling students from universities and dismissing people from their work place due to their participation in the protest;

      7.5.       reconsider their decision to close the OSCE office in Minsk and extend its mandate in 2011 and beyond;

      7.6.       complete the reform process of the electoral legislation and practice by taking into account the full set of recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR and the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission);

7.7.        hold to account the alleged perpetrators of the disappearances of Yuri Zakharenko, Victor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky and Dmitri Zavadsky, in line with Resolution 1371 (2004);

7.8.       declare a moratorium on executions as the first step towards the abolition of the death penalty, in line with Resolution 1671 (2009).

8.       The Assembly is convinced that any sanctions and restrictions in contacts and interactions with those responsible for the events, including the country’s highest officials, should not lead towards further isolation of the Belarusian people.

9.       The Assembly is also convinced of the usefulness of smart sanctions targeting those personally responsible for the most flagrant acts of repression, provided they are inflicted following a fair and transparent procedure. It therefore invites all Council of Europe member states, including those which are not members of the European Union, to join the European Union’s targeted sanctions against Belarusian officials.

10.       The Assembly therefore resolves to strengthen dialogue with Belarus’ democratic forces, civil society, opposition groups, free media, and human rights defenders. In the same vein, the Assembly calls on all Council of Europe member states to:

10.1.       maintain and foster dialogue with Belarus’ civil society and invest in people-to-people contacts with Belarus at all levels;

10.2.       consider facilitating the granting of visas to the ordinary citizens of Belarus, as well as to consider the possibility of establishing temporary safe havens for threatened political opponents, human rights defenders and media workers;

10.3.       encourage universities to open their doors to Belarusian students who have been expelled for political activities;

10.4.       support the continuation of the OSCE’s office in Minsk under its established mandate;

10.5.       explicitly refrain from recognising the election result of the presidential elections in Belarus;

10.6.       encourage and support efforts to collect and preserve evidence against perpetrators of serious human rights violations in view of targeted sanctions and future criminal prosecutions.

11.       As far as its own relations with Belarus are concerned, the Assembly recalls that, in its Resolution 1727 (2010), adopted in April 2010, following a debate under urgent procedure prompted mainly by the execution of two prisoners in March 2010, the Assembly decided to put on hold its activities involving high-level contacts between itself and the Belarusian authorities, reiterating that there cannot be progress on dialogue with the Belarusian authorities without progress towards Council of Europe standards.

12.       In view of the current additional serious setbacks, the Assembly reaffirms its decision to put on hold its activities involving high-level contacts with the Belarusian authorities. It further calls on the Bureau of the Assembly not to lift the suspension of the special guest status for the Parliament of Belarus:

12.1.       until a moratorium on the execution of the death penalty has been decreed by the competent Belarusian authorities;

12.2.       until there is substantial, tangible and verifiable progress in terms of respect for the democratic values and principles upheld by the Council of Europe.

13.       The Assembly calls on all the political parties of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament to take active measures in supporting their sister parties in Belarus by strengthening the personal care of the imprisoned leaders and their family members, providing financial support for the functioning of the parties, and inviting them to participate actively in European meetings of the parties at all levels.

¹ Assembly debate on 27 January 2011 (8th Sitting) (see Doc. 12494, report of the Political Affairs Committee, rapporteur: Mrs Hurskainen, and Doc. 12503, opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mr Pourgourides). Text adopted by the Assembly on 27 January 2011 (8th Sitting).

APCE