Zisser was the only one in Oslo who defended Lukashenka's “purses”

Most participants of a human rights conference in Oslo, including the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, spoke for imposing EU sanctions on the Lukashenka regime.

The Action of Belarus conference in Oslo was organized by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Human Rights House Foundation and the local PEN centre. The conference participants were Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland, Special Rapporteur on Belarus Andres Herkel, former president of the Nordic Council Dagfinn Høybråten, Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway Torgeir Larsen, chair of the Norwegian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, Deputy Head of the Norwegian Delegation to OSCE Morten Hoglund. Belarus was represented by Viasna human rights member Tatsiana Reviaka,editor of charter97.org website Natallia Radzina, ex-candidate for presidency Ales Mikhalevich, Russian journalist Pavel Sheremet, writer Adam Hlobus, youth leader Andrei Kim, TUT.by portal owner Yury Zisser.

All Norwegian politicians emphasized the importance of introducing sanctions against the Lukashenka regime.

Thorbjørn Jagland visited the conference on Belarus before his trip to Moscow, where he is to have a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. According to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, among other themes, he plans to discuss the Belarusian issue with them.

“Belarus is the only European country that is not a member of the Council of Europe. The country does not belong to the European family due to severe regime and pressure on people from the regime, Lukashenka is a classical dictator. His priority is survival. He wakes up every morning with the same thought – how to prolong his rule. For this reason we cannot make the Lukashenka regime to reform. Europe tried to use different strategies in relation to Belarus, but they did not take effect. The EU tried to involve Belarus in European processes, but the events on December 19, 2010, show it was not successful. Presidential candidates are in prisons, the country carries out executions.

It's also important to take into account that Lukashenka plays on the relations between the West and Russia. It is important that the EU and Russia have a joint approach to Belarus. It will be favourable for Russia. Moreover, we see that the regime of Lukashenka begins to annoy Moscow.

I welcome sanctions against representatives of the Lukashenka regime. They need to be isolated. Sanctions should be targeted. It's important to begin to think about the life after Lukashenka. I am confident the people of Belarus are tired of his regime, they want to live as normal people live,” Jagland said.

The PACE Special Rapporteur on Belarus, Andres Herkel, also supported an idea of EU targeted sanctions against the Lukashenka regime.

“The Assembly calls on the Council of Europe to continue to introduce sanctions until Belarusian political prisoners are released. Our priority is political prisoners. We worry about health of Andrei Sannikov and other political prisoners. The issue on death penalty is also very important. The execution of Uladzislau Kavalyou and Dzmitry Kanavalau showed how sensitive this problem is. Targeted sanctions should be tougher. They are crucial. If Lukashenka cannot help such businessmen as Chyzh and Pefityev, they will stop helping him,” Herkel said.

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway, Torgeir Larsen, stressed Belarus is a dictatorial country, which authorities plunged people into suffering.

“We have cold relations with Belarus due to this situation. We support the EU sanctions against Belarus unless fundamental human rights are respected in the country.

The situation is critical in the aspect that we do not express a clear position on Belarus. Norway will continue to support the measures taken by the EU against the people responsible for the current situation. We will support the people struggling to change the situation.”

A representative of the Nordic Council, Dagfinn Høybråten, said Belarus today was a “display window of systematic human rights violations”.

“If you want to see an authoritarian police state, you should go to Belarus. This regime uses force to stay in power. We, including Norway, should apply pressure on the regime. Europe needs to strengthen sanctions against the regime. We need a firm consistent approach for Lukashenka to understand us unambiguously. Economic sanctions should become a part of the package of measures in relation to the Belarusian regime. At the same time, who should not think any sanction pushes Belarus in direction of Russia,” a former president of the Nordic Council said.

Representatives of Belarus paid attention to the deterioration of the human rights situation in the country. Tatsiana Reviaka from Viasna human rights centre and Anna Herasimava from the Belarusian Human Rights House spoke about political prisoners, “political” articles in the Criminal Code, criminalization of financial aid for NGOs and the travel ban for a number of opposition politicians and public activists. “Europe should work out effective and clear measures in relation to the Lukashenka regime,” Tatsiana Reviaka said.

Natallia Radzina, the editor of charter97.org website, spoke about elimination of the freedom of speech in the country, arrests and killings of journalists, pressure on independent media, including websites.

“It's important to notice the anchorites uses a stick and carrot principle on the internet. Unlike printed media, the internet enjoys a relative freedom, because information there cannot be fully blocked. If such sites as Charter'97 and Belorusski Partizan, known for their principled position on human rights abuses in the country, meet cruel persecution and pressure, some rather popular Belarusian internet resources are allowed to criticize the authorities softly. It began to look like a cahoot. Due to absence of biting critical articles and shift of accents these sites are allowed to run business in Belarus and earn on advertising. I can understand people in the internet business – they are trying to survive in conditions of the last dictatorship of Europe. But in my view, it can hardly be called journalism or honest business. Moreover, we became a target of attacks also from TUT.by owner Yury Zisser, whom I respect and who is also invited to the conference. The authorities began to use him as an additional lever of pressure on independent journalists,” Radzina said.

The journalist stressed: “In conditions when people and organizations in Belarus and abroad are ready to work actively to establish democracy in the country, the solidarity of the international community is of great importance for us. Recalling EU ambassadors from Belarus in response to ordering the Polish ambassador and the EU Delegation Head out of the country was a strong step that remind us the European Union is able to defend the principles of freedom and democracy. Continuing the policy of sanctions against the Belarusian regime will be another strong step.

We share concerns of Norwegian human rights defenders regarding the agreements between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Oslo conducts the negotiations on behalf of the organization, which members besides Norway are non-EU states Switzerland, Iceland and Lichtenstein. Any profit and any money should not be valued higher than a human life. There must not be any cooperation with the official authorities of Belarus while political prisoners are being tortured in prisons and dictatorship continues to rule in the centre of Europe.”

TUT.by portal owner Yury Zisser took the floor after the editor of charter97.org website. He said at the beginning he did not agree with Natallia Radzina. “Sanctions should not be imposed on businessmen. There are no proofs they are sponsors of the Lukashenka regime. The regime of Lukashenka is sponsored by Putin,” Zisser said.

Though Yury Zisser was supposed to speak on the topic “Internet and business”, his video presentation contained portraits of Belarusian oligarchs – purses of the Lukashenka regime, against whom the EU plans to introduce sanctions. Zisser said the guilt of these people was that “they are not in prison so far”.

Zisser said running business is easy in Belarus if one stays far from politics. Someone from the audience asked the TUT.by owner after he finished his report: “Mr Zisser, how much did you pay to KGB to run your business in Belarus?”