В белорусской тюрьме уже 5 месяцев держат политзаключенных

The case of Mikalai Autuhkovich is directly linked with the policy of the Council of Europe towards the administration of Lukashenka - and backed by the silence of the OSCE office in Minsk.

Mr. Andrea Rigoni, Rapporteur for PACE (Political Affairs Commitee of the European Council) has massively downplayed and even concealed the objective human rights situation in Belarus in his PACE report 'Situation in Belarus' - as Mr. Rigoni must know, that the genuine truth about the human rights situation in Belarus is totally incompatible with common European values.

Mr. Andrea Rigoni must also know, that the vast majority of European citizens would protest against any concessions of the EU Council towards the Lukashenka regime, when the disgusting truth about human rights in Belarus would become a subject of a public discourse in Europe.

Thus, Mr. Andrea Rigoni drafted his 'Report about Belarus' by excluding facts, which would shock European citizens. Here are just two examples:

1) In his PACE report, Mr. Rigoni does not mention the important fact, that Amnesty International considers 11 Belarusian citizens as Prisoners of Conscience - although he concluded literally in his report, that 'it is now time for the Assembly to make an HONEST ASSESSMENT of the situation in Belarus'.

How honest is Mr. Rigoni's cover-up of grave violations of human rights in Belarus? Nobody accustomed with the actual situation in Belarus could have missed the cases of these 11 Belarusian citizens, but only the one rapporteur, who was assinged by PACE in 2007 for reporting the truth about Belarus?

2) In his PACE report, Mr. Rigoni does not mention the tragic case of of the lawyer Yana Palyakova, who committed suicide, after she was sentenced to 2 1/2 years so-called 'restriction of freedom' in March 2009. In case of being alive, Yana Palyakova would be also recognized as a Belarusian Prisoner of Concience by Amnesty International today - but international shelter for the persecuted human rights defender comes too late.

Mr. Andrea Rigoni must have been accustomed quite well with the case of Yana Palyakova since fall 2008, when the first reports appeared about the persecution fo the human rights defender from Salihorsk. Her case is one striking evidence, that absolutely no progress was made in Belarus - although EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner was praying this mantra in her public statements about Belarus - while she totally hushed up the politically motivated sentence of Yana Palyakova.

The name Yana Palyakova is an absolute taboo for the representatives of the European Union - as her tragic destiny was a result of carelessness and blind opportunism. The name of Yana Palyakova was also an absolute taboo for PACE rapporteur Andrea Rigoni in his 'Report about Belarus'.

Yana Palyakova is a joint victim of Belarusian and EU authorities - and to cover up her suffering and death by Mr. Andrea Rigoni in his PACE is an clear proof, that his report is incomplete and inaccurate - and therefore inacceptable.

Finally:

For me as an EU citizen it is very strange to discover on Belarusian governmental sites the disgusting fact, that PACE Rapporteur Andrea Rigoni was discussing the draft of his 'Report about Belarus' in Paris on 17 May 2007 with YEVGENY SMIRNOV (Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus for Legislation and State Administration) and ANATOLY GLAZ (Deputy Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the House of Representatives for Human Rights, National Relations and Mass Media).

I think, Mr. Andrea Rigoni misses the expertise for reporting about Belarus and most probably this was the reason, why he was given this mission. No qualified rapporteur would hush up essential facts in such a way as he did - and the unanimously decision of the Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe demonstrates, that there is no expertise in this Committee about the objective situation in Belarus.

On the other side it could be, that the Members of Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe knows quite well about the objective situation in Belarus. In this case it would be an ingredible scandal with an European dimension - discrediting the Council of Europe by those, who voted for the 'Report about Belarus' in Paris, namely: Göran Lindblad, Pedro Agramunt, Joseph Debono Grech, Denis Badré, Titus Corlătean, Anna Čurdová, Per-Kristian Foss, György Frunda, Andreas Gross, Michael Hancock, Birgen Keleş, Jean-Pierre Kucheida, Dariusz Lipiński, Jean-Claude Mignon, Joāo Bosco Mota Amaral, Miroslava Nemcova, Hryhoriy Omelchenko, Ivan Popescu, John Austin, Gabino Puche, Ingo Schmitt, Zoltán Szabó, Mehmet Tekelioğlu, Denis MacShane), Luigi Vitali and Albrecht Konečný.