Opposition Leaders Call To Preserve The Sanctions Against Lukashenka

Dictator led the country to a dead end.

Opposition political parties and political movements of Belarus made a joint appeal to the international community.

Charter97.org publishes the full text of the statements of the leaders of the democratic forces.

Appeal of political parties and political movements to the international community

Recalling that individual visa and financial restrictions introduced by the European Union and the USA against Belarusian government officials, judges were the reaction to the violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus and its international commitments;

Noting that in spite of some positive tendencies that can be observed in Belarus in the last six months there are no systemic, fundamental changes in the area of human rights;

Taking into account conclusions and recommendations of the ODIHR OSCE final report on the presidential election in Belarus and its recommendations on the improvement of election legislation and its application;

Insisting on the fact that the main condition of the election legislation and its application practices improvement is the political will of the Belarusian authorities;

Recalling that the important condition of the normalization of relations with the Belarusian authorities was not only freeing political prisoners but also their rehabilitation; We, representatives of Belarusian political parties and public-political associations appeal to the Council of Ministers of the European Union and the government of the USA:

1. To keep visa and financial restrictions (sanctions) against Belarusian officials who were directly involved in the repression against political opponents or in the falsification of the elections results. We recommend considering the issue after the parliamentary election campaign in 2016;

2. To adopt and to make public the plan of primary actions that are expected from the authorities to ensure the progress in the area of human rights (including registration of political parties and NGOs, stopping persecution of journalists) and the adoption of OSCE standards in election campaigns. “Road map” on the implementation of such plan should be agreed upon with the Belarusian authorities. It should include full cooperation with the UN and OSCE.

3. To strongly urge the Belarusian authorities to rehabilitate and restore the rights of all freed political prisoners; to demand from the authorities freeing all citizens who are now in prison on political grounds;

4. To propose the Belarusian authorities the implementation of the following ODIHR OSCE recommendations before the beginning of the parliamentary election campaign:

4.1. To ensure the priority right of political parties to have one representative in election commissions of all levels if a political party made a decision to take part in the elections;

4.2. To create the condition for observers to actually observe the vote count in the way that an observer sees the content of each ballot paper or the marks in ballot papers, to ensure getting any information about the election process, to fix the result of the vote count by all available means; to give observers the right to seal ballot boxes by their signatures alongside with the members of election commissions, to receive copies of final protocols of the sessions of election commissions.

4.3. To ensure separate transparent vote count of each type of voting and of each ballot box by demonstrating each ballot paper to each member of the election commission and to observers. In addition the results of the separate vote count on each category should be reflected in the final protocol.

4.4. To ensure the right of challenging the election results and any decisions of the election commissions of all levels in count.

4.5. In addition to ODIHR OSCE recommendations to define the reasons for the right to early voting and the voting in the place of residence (documentally proved business trip, medical treatment with corresponding documents, the state of health that prevents a voter from personally attending a ballot station on the election day).

4.6. To ensure the publication on the Central Election Commission web site the information about the results of the vote count in all constituencies and in all ballot stations. We, representatives of Belarusian political parties and public-political associations believe to ensure progress in the area of human rights it is necessary to get the combination of the following factors: constant monitoring, political pressure and the unifying dialogue to open the area for the civil society.

Irina Veshtard, Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Gramada)

Yury Gubarevich, Movement “For Freedom”

Sergei Kalyakin, the Party of the Left “Fair World”

Anatoly Lebedko, United Civic Party

Vitaly Rymashevsky, Belarusian Christian Democracy

Vladimir Neklyayev, Movement for Independence and Statehood of Belarus

Nikolai Statkevich, Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narosnaya Gramada)

Stanislav Shushkevich, Belarusian Social Democratic Gramada