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Resolution 1790 (2011) Final version
The situation in Belarus in the aftermath of the presidential election
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. 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 Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) preliminary assessment
of the latest presidential election, Belarus, despite some specific improvements
in the election system and during the electoral 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. The elections
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 president.
6. The Assembly also 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 electoral legislation and
practice by taking into account the full set of recommendations
of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(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) on disappeared persons
in Belarus;
7.8. declare a moratorium on executions as the first step towards
the abolition of the death penalty, in line with Resolution 1671
(2009) on the situation in Belarus.
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 to 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 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) on the situation
in Belarus: recent developments, adopted in April 2010, following
a debate under urgent procedure prompted mainly by the execution
of two prisoners in March 2010, it 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 member
states of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament to take
active measures in supporting their sister parties in Belarus by
strengthening the personal assistance to 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.