Human rights committee chair denounces further jailing of political opposition in Belarus

The chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee today strongly criticised the sentencing of two more candidates in Belarus’ December 2011 election.

Yesterday’s conviction of Nikolai Statkevich and Dmitry Uss follows the 14 May imprisonment of Andrei Sannikov.

“Yesterday’s sentencing adds further insult to injury and demonstrates a serious lack of regard for political dialogue. Three out of nine opposition candidates in December’s Presidential election have now been sentenced to long prison terms. It is hard to see this as anything other than political retribution against those willing to voice an independent opinion. This continuing – and growing – political repression in Belarus has to stop,” said Walburga Habsburg Douglas, chairman of the OSCE PA Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions.

Ms. Habsburg Douglas (Sweden) reiterated the statement issued by OSCE PA President Petros Efthymiou on 16 May, decrying the imprisonment of Andrei Sannikov (read here).

In February 2011, the Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions held a major debate on the situation in Belarus following the elections, with active participation by parliamentarians from across the OSCE, including from Belarus.

“Our debate in February demonstrated clearly the need for political dialogue in Belarus. Unfortunately the authorities did not heed this call. I hope that they will now reconsider and demonstrate a willingness to engage in a real political process,” continued Ms. Habsburg Douglas.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has been following the situation in Belarus closely and underlined the need for due process and basic freedoms to be respected. In January President Efthymiou called for the OSCE’s full-time field mission in Minsk to be re-opened, after Belarusian authorities blocked the extension of the Office’s mandate.