Lukashenka talked to Foreign Minister of Spain about. They haven’t about political prisoners

Miguel Moratinos, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, has he came out for complete lifting of sanctions against Belarusian officials

On Monday Alyaksandr Lukashenka met with the head of Foreign Ministry of Spain Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Interfax informs.

“Located in the centre of Europe, we would like to have the best relations with our neighbours — the European Union. You should agree that living in the XXI century and looking at each other over the fence is not a very adequate prospect,” Lukashenka said.

The Belarusian leader expressed hope that the visit to Minsk of the head of the Foreign Ministry of Spain “will allow him to see with his own eyes in what direction this country located in the centre of Europe goes to”.

Estimating the bilateral relations between the countries, A. Lukashenka drew attention to the situation in bilateral trade.

Last year the trade between the two countries amounted to $219 million. “The trade turnover cannot satisfy either you or us because the potential of our countries is much larger,” he remarked. He expressed profound gratitude to the government of Spain and the country as a whole for providing colossal aid in overcoming consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe, for annual recreation of Belarusian children in Spain. “It means a lot to us,” said the president.

In his turn, the head of the Foreign Ministry of Spain said:

“It is the first visit of a Spanish Minister to Belarus, and it is a historical visit for me”.

He delivered warm greetings from King of Spain Juan Carlos I and the Prime Minister of the country. He underscored that it is extremely important to establish contacts with Belarus for Spain, the existing president of the Council of Europe and the future president of the European Union.

Besides, as stated the head of the Foreign Ministry of Spain, “your being the part of Europe means double neighbourhood. It is good that you have wonderful relations with the Russian Federation, and you have a chance to have the same relations with the European Union,” Mr Moratinos said.

Besides, Spanish Foreign Minister met with the leader of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus Syarhei Martynau.

After the meeting, Mr Moratinos stated that Spain is highly interested in starting its chairmanship in the European Union with full normalization of relations between Belarus and the EU.

As said by the diplomat, Spain is also interested in a basic agreement between Belarus and the EU defining the relations of the sides to be signed during its term as a chairman in the EU, which starts on January 1, 2010.

“For this to happen, we are to put an end to the sanctions which are a mechanism of the past,” Moratinos stated. “We are in favour of a dialogue, and we are glad that our efforts for inclusion of Belarus in the Eastern Partnership have been crowned with success”.

“I used this visit to state our support to rapprochement of Belarus with the Council of Europe,” the diplomat said. “We expect that in the nearest future Belarus will be granted special guest status in the Parliementary Assembly of the Council of Europe again”.

The Spanish diplomat underlined that in the future Belarus should become a full-fledged member of the Council of Europe.

It should be noted that on March 20 the European Union included Belarus in the Eastern Partnership program.

The democratic forces of Belarus many times asked the European Union to conduct consistent policy towards the official Minsk. And namely, to stick to 12 conditions put forth by Europe to the Belarusian regime.

Over the six month of the so-called “liberalization” new political prisoners appeared in Belarus, many are sent to penal institutions for their political views.

In February 2009 leaders of entrepreneurs Mikalay Autukhovich, Yury Lyavonau, Uladzimir Asipenka, and an activist of the Young Front Artsyom Dubski were arrested in Belarus. Autukhovich and Lyavonau, former political prisoners, sentenced to restriction of freedom on far-fetched charges for defense of rights of entrepreneurs. Earlier Dunbski was involved in the Process of Fourteen.

On March 7 a human rights watchdog Yana Palyakova committed suicide. She had been sentenced to 2.5 years of restriction of freedom a few days earlier.

Opposition activists Alyaksei Bondar, Mikhail Kryvau, Mikhail Pashkevich, Alyaksandr Straltsou, Alyaksandr Charnyshou, Tatsyana Tsishkevich, Mikhail Subach, Paval Vinahradau, Maxim Dashuk and Alyaksandr Barazenka remain restricted in their rights. They had been sentenced to restriction of freedom for participation in protest rallied.

A note by www.charter97.org: It is known that at the moment Spanish court is trying to initiate proceedings against a number of officials of the US ex-president George Bush’s administration, who are suspected of implication in tortures in Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

It is interesting to know: will the Spanish court be consistent? Will they initiate a criminal action against Belarusian officials suspected in abductions and possible assassinations of oppositional leaders and a journalist, as well as responsible for illegal arrests and tortures of Belarusian democracy activists?