PACE calls upon sanctions against Belarusian dictatorship

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has adopted a harsh resolution on Belarus.

111 of the MEPs have given votes for the resolution, and only 10 against it, while 6 abstained.

The PACE deputies supported the variant of the resolution on Belarus, drafted by the Political Committee, Euroradio reports.

The document “fully supports EU’s targeted sanctions, which should be expanded, and urges the countries of the Council of Europe to join them, until all political prisoners are released and rehabilitated, and repressions against political opponents, representatives of the civil society and human rights defenders are stopped”. Apart from that, the PACE advises the Committee of Ministers, which is the directive body of the Council of Europe, should address with such appeal to all the members of the organization.

Let us remind you, all European countries including Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, (apart from Belarus, Vatican and Kosovo) are members of the Council of Europe.

The draft resolution states that the PACE is deeply concerned by the constantly deteriorating situation with human rights, political and civil freedoms in Belarus, condemns repressions and pressure against the dissidents.

The EU countries are urged to keep up sanctions against Belarus, “especially against state-run enterprises connected with Alyaksandr Lukashenka and other high-ranking officials,” and to continue support of NGOs.

The draft resolution also suggests that PACE should expand cooperation with representatives of NGOs, independent media, political opposition and independent trade unions. Also, it recommends to leave the high-level relations with the Belarusian authorities frozen. The position of a special guest for Belarus also remains unchanged: it depends on the death penalty moratorium and progress in the sphere of democracy.