European Union to revise sanctions if human rights would be observed in Belarus

The European Union can review sanctions against Belarus. It is said in the statement of the Council of the European Union on Common Foreign Policy and Security.

Welcoming the release of political prisoners, the European Union expects that Belarus “will continue to follow this course, and will respect human rights completely from now on”.

“The European Union welcomes release of the two last political prisoners Syarhei Parsyukevich and Andrei Kim. Their release which follows the release of the five political prisoners in the beginning of the year and the release of Alyaksandr Kazulin mean that there are no more internationally recognized political prisoners,” the statement reads.

It is underlined in the document that the EU views their release as a “considerable step of Belarus towards fulfilling commitments on observation of fundamental democratic values, respect of human rights and rule of law”.

“Such a development of events makes it possible to renew the dialogue with the Belarusian government and reconsideration of the restrictive measures against Belarus,” the statement reads. In this connection it is underlined in the document that the EU expects that Belarus will “continue to follow this course and will respect human rights completely from now on”.