President of PACE: Resumption of contacts with Belarus is only after free elections and release of political prisoners

Anne Brasseur sounded conditions for resuming contacts with the official Minsk.

On April 22 in Strasbourg, the President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly spoke out about the situation in Belarus. Anne Brasseur reminded conditions for resuming contacts with the official Minsk: moratorium on the death penalty, release of political prisoners and conduct of free elections. It is not worthy to talk neither about resumption of high-level contacts between the PACE and official Minsk nor the return of the special guest status to our country unless the implementation of these three conditions, Euroradio reports.

"I recognize Belarus' role in organization of Minsk negotiations on settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. They are directed to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Though the Minsk agreement is fragile enough, the ceasefire is still precarious. Yet, the fact that Belarus provided the platform for negotiations is a positive step. Nevertheless, we cannot forget the obstacles that do not allow Belarus to join the Council of Europe: issues on the death penalty, free elections and the release of political prisoners. We cannot just say: You have done a lot to conduct negotiations on Ukraine, and now we do not take into consideration those important issues we have raised before. In case there is a progress concerning the issues, there will be a possible decision to resume high-level contacts", Anne Brasseur stated.

She says future presidential elections may be the first evidence of the progress. If from the very beginning they will be held in equal and free conditions for all candidates, it will be a signal to the PACE that Belarus really wants to develop a dialogue, PACE President says.

It should be reminded that the decision to terminate all high-level contacts between the PACE and Belarus was adopted in April, 2010.