Elena Tonkacheva: It is hard to imagine more obscure PACE rapporteur on Belarus than Rigoni

Why is official Minsk so optimistic about the appointment of Andrea Rigoni to the post of the Special Rapporteur on Belarus in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE)?

Andrea Rigoni of Italy, PACE’s rapporteur on Belarus, already occupied the post of PACE rapporteur on Belarus from February 2007 to November 2009. In a report drawn up in 2009 Rigoni managed to find “important steps in a correct direction” made by the Belarusan authorities, despite a great distance away from the Council of Europe standards.

It should also be noted that in 2009 Rigoni insisted on the restoration of the Belarusian parliament’s Special Guest status in the Council of Europe. And now Andrea Rigoni is “in change” of Belarus in PACE again.

“It is hard to imagine more obscure Special Rapporteur on Belarus in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly than Rigoni, - noted Elena Tonkacheva, the head of the Legal Transformation Centre “Lawtrend” in the talk with the “EuroBelarus” Information Service. – Rigoni already occupied the post of PACE rapporteur on Belarus, and I had a chance to talk with him right in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. I can say that it was absolutely formal and ineffective political action”.

According to Elena Tonkacheva, “he made an impression that his interest in the real problems as well as his awareness of the situation in Belarus was quite poor”. As he head of the “Lawtrend” notes, during the time when he used to be a Special Rapporteur “his awareness as well as his actions never changed”.

Despite the draft resolution, prepared by Andrea Rigoni which provided for lifting the suspension of the Special Guest status, in 2009 the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly voted to restore the Belarusian parliament’s Special Guest status in the Assembly only after Minsk declares a moratorium on the death penalty. In the following discussion Christos Pourgourides, first vice chairperson of PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, noted that much has yet to be done in Belarus before the country’s parliament could be given Special Guest status.

But as the head of “Lawtrend” noted, unfortunately, both for PACE and for the Belarusian Parliament the problem of death penalty has become a long-playing record: “The stances of the two sides have long ago been made clear, everyone has long ago realized that it has to happen, but Belarusan authorities have decided that they would trade in this question for as long as possible. And because of the more successful policy and diplomacy pursued by PACE in relation to other issues in the country, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly supports this weird trade”.

Thus, in the situation when the public dialog on the part of PACE in Belarus only comes to the problem of moratorium on death penalty and some two more questions which are not that important it's anybody's guess. Whereas the issues of cooperation with the civil society, responsiveness to public opinion in decision-making process, democratic procedures, legal and political reforms are left unattended, emphasized Elena Tonkacheva. “Rigoni is an insipid and slack politician. He is also indifferent to Belarus’ geopolitics. This indifference make his incumbency very formalized”, - believes Elena Tonkacheva.

As to the “trading” of the moratorium on death penalty, the longer this problem is left unresolved the longer Rigoni will have a livelihood, summed up the head of “Lawtrend”.

Meanwhile, capital sentences are being carried into effect in Belarus. Thus, during the last five months two people were executed.