Alyaksandr Atroshchankau: Why should the OSCE spend time on farce?

The coordinator of the civil campaign "European Belarus" Alyaksandr Atroshchankau met with the technical mission of OSCE on training of election observation.

Alexander Atroshchankau told about the situation in the country on the eve of the campaign, about the arrest of journalist Anton Suryapin and prosecution of Andrzej Poczobut. He also told about the pressure on pro-democracy activists and a dangerous situation around Statkevich, Dmitry Dashkevich and other political prisoners. According to Atroshchankau, the situation with these people requires the attention of the OSCE, not the pseudo-elections.

"I told that the visit of the OSCE observers to the "parliamentary elections" does not make sense. After all, today we can say that this campaign has nothing to do with elections or with the distribution of power. The most popular opposition politicians, who either are in prison, or are limited in their rights, cannot take part in the elections.  The holding of elections is impossible in terms of large-scale repressions and intimidation campaigns. What is happening now in the country, are not elections, but the grotesque parapolitical show. OSCE is not the organization that must evaluate such activities.

One should not send an OSCE mission to observe, say, a parade on July 3.

Dr. Armin Rabici, the head of the technical mission, told about the meeting with representatives of the authorities. Despite the popular belief, the government is extremely interested in the arrival of international observers and tries to make maximum use of the campaign for their own purposes. Authorities are luring the OSCE observers by promising some "improvement." For example, the argument that all registered parties can nominate their candidates, " - told Alyaksandr Atroshchankau to сharter97.org.