European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs held today an extraordinary
meeting to discuss the situation in Belarus. The European Parliament overwhelmingly
supports the right of the people of Belarus to participate in free and fair elections and
to exercise their rights and freedoms. The Association against Impunity and for
Transitional Justice (AITJ) supports the peaceful protests of the belarusian
democratic movement and calls for new free and fair elections to be held as soon as
possible to ensure that the Belarusian people can exercise their freedom to choose
their President.
In addition, we join with the request of the President of the European Parliament,
David Sassoli, to demand that all demonstrators unfairly imprisoned will be released
and an immediate stop to the unnecessary use of violence to suppress the protests. All
military and police officers who have harassed, beaten, abused their power and
unfortunately in some cases killed protesters must be sentenced and it must be
ensured that justice is done for all those who have suffered human rights violations
and humiliation.
Although today the European Foreign Ministers have shared the position adopted by
the European Parliament since the beginning of the protests following Lukashenko's
victory, AITJ believes that the conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council lack the
introduction of sanctions. The decision now goes to the European Council from which
we expect to see the European Union move in a cohesive and strong position for the
respect of human rights, for democracy and against all forms of impunity.
The European Union needs to do all in its power to strengthen the cause of freedom
and democracy in Belarus. This includes effective sanctions against perpetrators of
violations of human rights and electoral fraud, and pressure to release all political
prisoners and those arbitrarily detained.
Association against Impunity and for Transitional Justice - AITJ
Rue Ducale, 41 Brussels – 1000
http://www.fightimpunity.net/
info@fightimpunity.net - +32 2 781 08 23