Christos Pourgourides: Not a single oppositionist in Belarusian “parliament”

During the discussion on restoration of the Special Guest Status for Belarus the meeting was aboil with controversy.

Christos Pourgourides, the author of the report on the situation in Belarus, underlined: “The manner of execution of the death penalty in Belarus is particularly cruel. Convicts are shot from behind, without a prior warning to themselves or to their families that would allow them to prepare themselves and to say farewell. Families are not even informed after the fact of the exact time of the execution or of the place of burial.”

He said that some additional progress beyond the promulgation of a moratorium on executions, especially as regards political prisoners and the freedoms of association, assembly and information, are needed before granting the Belarusian parliament the Special Guest Status.

“Many wrong things are taking place in Belarus. Granting the status, we should lay down certain conditions to Belarusian authorities,” Pourgourides is convinced.

The European deputy noted that Belarus has serious problems with human rights, in particular, there are political prisoners behind the bars still.

Presenting the report on Belarus, the PACE Rapporteur on Belarus Andrea Rigoni noted that to resume the Special Guest Status for Belarus is the first step. “We will continue to criticize drawbacks of Belarus. We will monitor the situation in Belarus, and how everything progresses. If Belarus moves forward, we will move forward, if not – we’ll return back”.

The PACE deputy Mátyás Eörsi (The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) reminded that since 1997. When Belarus had the special guest status, a dialogue was conducted with its representatives, which proved fruitless. He attracted attention to the fact that a significant geopolitical move is in question: Belarus is becoming estranged from Russia, and it is the best moment to return it in Europe.

Alexei Lotman, MEP (United Left) reminded that there are still political prisoners in Belarus, and offered “hope for the best, but remain careful”.

Egidijus Vareikis (People’s Party) stated that the main problem is whether the situation in Belarus would improve.

“It is not just the Council of Europe softens its demands, while the regime doesn’t reform. It is not the Council of Europe that isolates the Belarusian authorities, they isolate themselves. Relations of the Council of Europe with the Belarusian civil society have always been very good; it means that there have never been an isolation of the Belarusian society. The return of the status in the PACE to Belarus is our wish, but not our duty. The time for changes has come. We can return the status for Belarus or suspend it again, but real changes should take place in Minsk”.

The leader of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka has stated that at present for the first time new possibilities to influence the Belarusian regime have emerged. It is connected with the economic crisis.

“The crisis has given a possibility to influence the situation in Belarus. Our formula is a dialogue and free elections in exchange for credits and trade. I do not agree to the term “isolation”, it was “self-isolation”.

Lyabedzka reminded about the real situation in Belarus:

“We have 11 prisoners of conscience. Mikalai Autukhovich is on hunger strike in prison for 69 days, the US citizen Emanuel Zeltser is on hunger strike. How would you feel if they die in prison? All the positive changes in Belarus depend on the mood of one person.”

On behalf of the United Democratic Forces, Anatol Lyabedzka proposed to create a joint group of representatives of the regime and the opposition, and to create a road map for joining the Council of Europe:

“We see the PACE as a collective Vaclav Havel and Andrei Sakharov, and we wish you to stay like this in the future,” he underlined.

As we have informed, today a decision has been adopted that only after a moratorium on the execution of the death penalty is decreed, the Special Guest status of the Belarusian Parliament would be restored.