Belarusian Foreign Ministry “upset” by Europe’s fidelity to principle
9- 23.06.2009, 17:07
Belarusian officials believe that the ban on capital punishment is a too great concession from them to receive the Special Guest status at the PACE.
The resolution adopted by the PACE demonstrates that approaches to organizing cooperation with Belarus are gradually changing, but at the same time Minsk is upset that the PACE puts forward new preliminary conditions for resuming the Special guest status, said the spokesperson of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Andrei Papou to journalists.
“The discussion on the Belarusian issue in the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the resolution adopted today demonstrate that approaches to organizing cooperation with Belarus are gradually changing, and the number of supporters of mutually respectful and pragmatic dialogue with the authorities of the country among the PACE deputies is growing,” A. Papou stated, commenting of the resolution on Belarus adopted at the PACE session in Strasbourg today, Interfax informs.
“In this context we note the call of the Assembly to the PACE Bureau to restore the Special Guest status for the national assembly of Belarus,” he added.
At the same time, the spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus observed: “Unfortunately, we are upset that once again the PACE offers new preliminary conditions, in particular, the moratorium on the execution of the death penalty in Belarus”.
A. Papou has also noted that Belarus, “as it was said on repeated occasions, treats the position of the Council of Europe on death penalty with understanding”.
“The parliament of Belarus and the legal community of our country are carrying out the necessary discussion and analysis on this topic, and certainly they take into account not only the position of the Council of Europe, but the influential opinion of citizens of Belarus, expressed at the nation-wide referendum on this issue,” he said.
The spokesperson of the FM attracted attention to the fact that “as far as we know, under the statutory documents of the Council of Europe abolition of death penalty or imposing a moratorium on it are conditions for joining the organisation by the country, and not for receiving the special guest status”.
