Motion for a resolution | Doc. 12543 | 17 March 2011

The need for an international inquiry into the crackdown against the Belarusian opposition in December 2010

Signatories: Ms Marieluise BECK, Germany, ALDE ; Ms Lenka ANDRÝSOVÁ, Czech Republic, ALDE ; Ms Doris BARNETT, Germany, SOC ; Ms Anne BRASSEUR, Luxembourg, ALDE ; Ms Viola von CRAMON-TAUBADEL, Germany, SOC ; Ms Mirjana FERIĆ-VAC, Croatia, SOC ; Mr György FRUNDA, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Jean-Charles GARDETTO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Mr Serhiy HOLOVATY, Ukraine, ALDE ; Mr Joachim HÖRSTER, Germany, EPP/CD ; Ms Francine JOHN-CALAME, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Tom KOENIGS, Germany, ALDE ; Mr Franz Eduard KÜHNEL, Austria, EPP/CD ; Mr Harald LEIBRECHT, Germany, ALDE ; Mr Philippe MAHOUX, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Karin ROTH, Germany, SOC ; Mr Manuel SARRAZIN, Germany, SOC ; Ms Marina SCHUSTER, Germany, ALDE ; Mr Christoph STRÄSSER, Germany, SOC ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Jordi XUCLÀ, Spain, ALDE

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

In the aftermath of the Presidential election in Belarus on 19 December 2010, the security forces carried out a violent crackdown against participants in a protest rally in Minsk on the same day.

Demonstrators were largely peaceful, but a separate group of people, allegedly incited by provocateurs under the orders of the authorities, attacked a Government building, smashing windows and doors.

Leading representatives of the opposition, including several presidential candidates, were arrested, some of them after having been beaten by police. They may face, and some have already received, long prison terms because of the allegations going from participation in and organisation of mass disorders to conspiracy to overthrow the Government based on the above-mentioned attack on the Government building.

In view of past experience, as noted by the Parliamentary Assembly in Resolution 1606 (2008) and Recommendation 1832 (2008), with the abuse of the criminal justice system in Belarus for political purposes, an international inquiry is needed in order to collect and preserve reliable information and elements of proof concerning the events of 19 December 2010.

The Assembly therefore resolves to appoint a rapporteur mandated to collect and assess any information and elements of proof concerning the events of 19 December 2010, including those needed to hold to account the perpetrators as well as the instigators and organisers of serious human rights violations committed in this context.