“Nezavisimaya gazeta” about Lukashenka’s real “sore spots”

Yesterday the Council of the European Union once again considered the Belarusian issue, “Nezavaiamaya gazeta” (Russia) writes.

European ministers were looking for the ways to influence the official Minsk, which would be able to return it in the direction of democratization, including use of new sanctions.

The day before the press-service of the Council of EU informed that a proposal not only to expand the list of persons blacklisted from the EU is considered, but to rubberstamp criterions of further expanding of this list. According to the idea of the initiators, the persons involved in human rights violations in the country are to be put on this list. “It opens the door for future definitions of persons responsible for serious human rights violations, for repressions against the civil society and democratic opposition or those who supported and had benefits from Lukashenka’s regime,” the report of the press-service reads. It was also supposed that the enterprises which European bank accounts would be frozen because of their too warm relations with the regime, would be named. At the moment when the newspaper was prepared for print, there was no information about what the EU had decided to undertake against Minsk.

As “NG” wrote earlier, up till yesterday there were 210 Belarusian officials on the blacklist of persons banned entry to the EU. Alyaksandr Lukashenka tops the list. We remind that before the issue of sanctions was discussed, local experts referring to “diplomatic circles” stated that deputies who were immediately involved in adopting amendments to the law on mass events should be added to the list. After amending the law was called “it is forbidden to flock by more than three” by Belarusians.

Though they are discussing the topic of sanctions, Belarusian experts and politicians have lost their faith in efficiency of the sanctions long ago. They say that the regime would compensate the blacklisted officials their moral damages by material goods. Representatives of public associations fear a tit-for-tat response of the Belarusian authorities to toughening of the sanctions, believing that the latest joint programmes could be cancelled. Political analysts recommend Brussel’s officials to look more attentively at the Russian experience of forming relations with Belarus and draw Lukashenka into the orbit of their influence exclusively by economic methods.

Interestingly, the statements of experts who are skeptical about the sanctions, were confirmed last week. Anatoly Kulyashou, a blacklisted Belarusian minister, not just entered France problem-free, but also left it without obstacles, despite the suit against him flied by a French lawyer William Bourdon as against a suspect in use of torture. Lawyers explain that by the fact that Kulyashou was in France on invitation of Interpol and had diplomatic immunity. Political analysts explain that by lack of desire of official Paris to start an international scandal. Anyway, the regime’s propagandists have received a possibility to demonstrate the foreign policy activities of the country and that the sanctions have unconvincing effect.

As for the incident with Kulyashou, yesterday “European Belarus” civil initiative made a statement: “We deeply regret the actions of the French Republic contradicting the the UN Convention Against Torture did not allow to arrest Anatoly Kulyashou, a criminal and hangman of the people of Belarus, against whom evidence of committing grave crimes were collected, who took responsibility for the bloody clampdown on a peaceful demonstration against the rigged presidential elections in Belarus on December 19, 2010,” they wrote.

“We regret even more that international criminal Kulyashou paid a visit to France while his people continue to hold in prison and torture Belarusian presidential candidates Andrei Sannikov, Mikalai Statkevich, one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition Zmitser Bandarenka, youth leaders Zmitser Dashkevich, Eduard Lobau, Pavel Sevyarynets and others,” the statement stresses.

The camp of the regime’s opponent who know its real spore spots, have many proposals about what should be done to influence Lukashenka. For instance, recently a campaign against holding World Ice Hockey Championship in Belarus in 2014 started. Free Belarus Now activists have written an address to national federations of ice hockey which take part in the World Cup 2014. “If the IIHF would not take a principled stand in support of human rights and would not move the championship from Belarus, it will be a spot on conscience of every of you, who had done one’s personal choice. We address you with a request to make a moral choice and boycott this event, which is which will support the last dictatorship in Europe,” the authors urge.