Swedish Parliament Proposes To Impose Sanctions Against Lukashenka

The Belarusian issue is being discussed in the Swedish parliament with the participation of the head of the Swedish Foreign Ministry.

Former Minister for EU Affairs in the Swedish government and now member of the Liberal Party of Sweden Birgitta Olsson draws attention to the fact that in recent weeks, mass protests for democracy have taken place not only in Minsk and Moscow, but also in other cities of Belarus and Russia, Svaboda reports.

According to Birgitta Olsson, all political prisoners must be released, the support of democratic activists must be increased dramatically both economically and politically, and activists must feel strong support from Sweden and the EU in their quest for democracy and human rights.

The representative of the Liberal Party of Sweden have stated that the liberals were right from the very beginning when they spoke out against the lifting of the EU sanctions last spring. "It was a fatal mistake on the part of the EU to naively believe that a diplomatic reconciliation with the last dictator of Europe, Lukashenka, would lead to democracy. No improvement in human rights has occurred in the country since then, and the wave of violence in recent weeks, the imprisonment of more than 200 opposition leaders and activists, democratic activists and journalists and tortures against them show that sanctions must be returned," – Birgitta Olsson says.

The politician proposes to freeze the Swedish state aid to the authorities in Belarus. She draws attention to the fact that almost four million Swedish kroner from Swedish aid were spent to projects under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Taxation of Belarus. The leadership of the ministry contributed to human rights violations, since the imposed tax on "parasites" contradicts the Constitution, and also violates the international law," – Birgitta Olsson is convinced.