Polish MPs: Lukashenka and his henchmen must stand trial

“One cannot deal with dictators,” the members of the Polish Sejm say.

As Adam Lipinski, a Polish MP representing the oppositional Law and Justice Party, said on February 24 that all talks about a possibility to “deal with the regime of Lukashenka are an allusion”. “One cannot deal with dictators,” he noted. According to the MP, the Polish MFA says “the polish policy towards Belarus reminds a chess match with the Belarusian regime”. “However, Lukashenka’s favorite kind of sport is ice hockey, and he played by the rules of hockey. Maybe we should learn lessons from this,” he said.

MP Franciszek Stefaniuk representing the Agrarian Polish People's Party also commented on Poland’s policy towards Belarus.

In his account, it’s difficult to remain silent when opposition figures are being arrested, but a a dialogue with Minsk is necessary, though impossible now.

According to MP Zbigniew Wojciechowski, the ban from entering the EU for representatives of the Belarusian authorities wasn’t enough. He thinks that a “list of those, who was directly involved in crimes, must be created so that they stand trial later.” “Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his closest henchmen from the repressive machine must be placed first on the list,” he said.

As MP Marek Borowski thinks, Poland is in a difficult situation, because “Lukashenka may respond to Warsaw by repressions against the Polish ethnic minority”. “It is moral blackmailing. But Poles in Belarus would not feel quiet, if the price of this quietness were ignoring the facts of infringement upon civil rights in the country,” he said, REGNUM information agency reports with a link to PAP.

We remind that yesterday’s discussion in the Polish Sejm was held ahead of adoption of the resolution condemning the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka and crackdown on the Belarusian opposition. “We demand that the Belarusian authorities release all arrested people immediately and stop political repressions,” the draft resolution says. The draft was approved by the Sejm Presidium and expected to be adopted today by acclamation.