OSCE was told about new Belarusian political prisoners

Belarusian human rights activists and public leaders have told the head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe João Soares about the problem of political prisoners and interference of the authorities into activities of independent mass media.

The situation with rights and freedoms in Belarus and actions of the authorities on democratization were discussed on March 10 in Minsk during the meeting of the OSCE delegation and representatives of the Belarusian civil society.

As informed by the BelaPAN, the delegation headed by the PA OSCE president João Soares visits Minsk March 9-12. Its program include meetings with the head of the “national assembly”, Lukashenka’s administration, the Foreign Ministry and the Information Ministry, as well as participation in the seminar “Improvement of the climate for attraction of foreign investments”.

At the meeting with representatives of public associations, political parties and mass media the delegation aimed to find out their point of view on reassurances of the regime that “full freedom of press and absence of political prisoners exist in Belarus”, João Soares said.

As representatives of the civil society underlined, the problem of freedom of expression is a key problem for Belarus. A monopoly on electronic mass media, on the press and distribution of newspapers still exists in Belarus. There is a discrimination against the independent press. 13 social and political newspapers are still deprived of a possibility to be distributed via the state network.

There are serious problems with access to information by journalists and with their accrediting. Participants of the meeting expressed concern over the practice of use the Law on counteraction to extremism, which has already affected ARCHE magazine.

The representatives of the civil society tend to see political undertones in criminal cases initiated against Artsyom Dubski, Maxim Dashuk, Mikalay Autukhovich, Yury Lyavonau and Uladzimir Asipenka. Attention of the PACE delegation has been also attracted to the crackdown on the oppositional rallies on February 14 and 16 by the police, to forcible conscription of young activists to the army, pressure of special services on delegates of the founding congress of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, interference of the regime in the activities of religious organisations.

“We can help with democratization certainly. But in the first place initiative should belong to you. We are not the EU, we are the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, and our aim is build the bridges for a dialogue. Freedom is in our own hands, and nobody would bring it from outside. It is easier for us to return to Lisbon, to Wien, to Brussels and say: there is a dictatorship there. But probably we should hold the door open for a dialogue,” João Soares said at the meeting.

It should be noted that representatives of the civil society haven’t opposed the dialogue with the regime as such. But they support the idea that the civil society should be a full member of this dialogue.