Belarusians demanded from EU sanctions against Yanukovych

Representatives of Belarusian civil society demanded sanctions against Ukrainian offcials.

Belarusian civic activists and NGO representatives send Catherine Ashton and open appeal. Its signers express their conviction that on how quickly the issue of sanctions against officials, responsible for “multiple and systemic human rights violations and crimes against humanity”, will be resolved depends whether there will be new victims there.

Charter97.org learnt that the statement emphasized that the introduction of sanctions against “certain individuals from top-echelon government officials and pro-government circles” in Ukraine “does not close the door on further negotiations with Ukraine, but on the contrary directs these negotiations in the vein of responsibility and legitimacy”.

Representatives of Belarusian civil society also expressed their bewilderment about the fact that the issue of sanctions had not been resolved yesterday. The statement points out that today “it is the matter of dozens killed, among whom there is a journalist” and “thousands wounded”, it is also the matter of the use of firearms against unarmed protesters and preventing them from getting help.

The signers state that the inaction on the part of the institutions and states of the European Union in the situation, when Ukraine’s authorities suppress civil protest with arms. They remind that the protest started in support of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the EU’s inaction discredits the idea of European integration as such. In their view, this will have further geopolitical consequences for all the Eastern Partnership countries.

Against the background of Belarusian civil society the signers of the appeal believe that economic sanctions against officials and pro-government businessmen are effective, and warn that any delay in taking respective decisions leads to new attacks of the authorities on democratic values and human rights.

The appeal was signed among others by a human rights movement “Our Belarus”, civic online initiative “Europe without dictatorships”, the initiative group for creation of the public association of Belarusian pensioners “Our generation”, Brest agency for regional development “Dzedzich”, civic organization “For Belarus without orphans”, civic campaign “Astraviec nuclear power plant is a crime!”.