Mikhnevich wants OSCE to forget about human rights

A Belarusian delegation calls on the organisation to give up the policy of sanctions.

The position of official Minsk was expressed by Belarusian deputy foreign minister Alyaksandr Mikhnevich at the OSCE Ministerial Council, Interfax-West reports.

“The OSCE need to return to its initial mission, namely building the real society of security and cooperation, to overcome the crisis of confidence and the inertia of confrontation. In this regard we emphasised the urgent necessity of unconditional abandoning the policy of sanctions, economic and political pressure among the member states,” Mikhnevich said.

The head of the Belarusian delegation “spoke for the further process of reforms in the OSCE and turned attention to double standards in election observation that are still used by the OSCE.”

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Filip Kaczmarek: EU to extend sanctions against Lukashenka

Totalitarian regimes understand only decisive measures, only tough and strong steps.

Former political prisoner Alyaksandr Atroshchankau and head of the NGO Assembly Syarhei Matskevich held some meetings in the European Parliament.

Belarusian representatives met with Filip Kaczmarek, the head of the EP Delegation for relations with Belarus, MEP Marek Migalski, MEP Werner Schulz's assistants, experts and human rights activists. Activists of Amnesty International, Libereko and other human rights groups focusing on Belarus as well as head of Office of Belarusian Political Emigration Yury Zhylko participated in the meetings.

Syarhei Matskevich and Alyaksandr Atroshchankau spoke about the situation of political prisoners in the country and urged the EU to put more efforts to release them.

“Pressure on political prisoners grows every days. People are being tortured, kept incommunicado in horrible conditions. They cannot receive necessary medicines and clothes. We can say about the threat to the life of Mikalai Statkevich, Zmitser Dashkevich and Mikalai Dzyadok. All means, first of all economic sanctions, are needed to save and release them,” Alyaksandr Atroshchankau said.

Filip Kaczmarek, the head of the EP Delegation for relations with Belarus, said the EU began to understand that its current policy in relation to Belarus was ineffective and that more serious and decisive steps were needed.
“No serious contacts with Belarus are possible unless the situation of political prisoners is solved. The sanctions will be extended if they are not freed. Totalitarian regimes understand only decisive measures, only tough and strong steps. Soft measures don't work. If the European Union wants to have a decent role in the world politics, it should use not only soft policy, but also tougher measures,” Filip Kaczmarek said.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

UN considers Andrei Sannikau’s appeal

In the UN Human Rights Committee they are considering the Belarus presidential candidate’s complaint on violation of his rights.

Andrei Sannikau sent the appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee in several months after his release from prison in July 2012. Today it became known that the appeal is being taken into consideration.

“It is the matter of violation of my rights during the arrest, prison detention, investigation and trial. Tortures were used against me. All my rights were violated for political reasons: as a civil person and as a presidential candidate. In the appeal each violation of the acrticle of the optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is being analyzed in detail.

In this document I do not only speak about the violation of my rights, but the violation of the rights of the citizens of Belarus for freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of peaceful protest and freedom of choice.

This is a necessary measure in order to acknowledge the violation of the international law on the part of Belarusian authorities. This would mean my full rehabilitation even according to the Belarusian laws as in Belarus’ Constitution the primacy of the international law is stated. According to the international obligations the authorities of every country that have signed the Protocol have to follow the decisions take on such appeals. It is worth noting that Belarus has ratified the Protocol in 1992. And it is not important if they will or will not follow the decision of the Human Rights Committee. Such a decision will give me a moral and legal right to put forward accusations against the Belarusian authorities”, - Sannikau told
The leader of the European Belarus civic campaign, 2010 presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau was arrested on 19 December 2010 on charges of organizing the protest against the falsification of the presidential elections’ results. He was sentenced to five years in prison. In prison he underwent tortures and humiliation. He was released in 1.5 years. He had to leave Belarus as the authorities threatened him with a repeated arrest. He received a political asylum in Great Britain.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Nationalisation? Golden share to be introduced for private JSCs

Belarus plans to introduce an institute of authorised representatives of the state in joint-stock companies without state's share.

The State Committee for Property (SCP) prepared a draft decree on possessory supervision in joint-stock companies, including those without state's share, Interfax-West news agency learnt from the SCP press service.

The draft decree gives the state the right to appoint its authorised representatives to joint-stock companies without state's share. “An authorised representative will protect the rights of minor shareholders, our citizens,” a SCP representative said. He explained the decree would affect the joint-stock companies created on the basis of state-owned companies in the process of privatisation.

The draft decree will be introduced to the government.

The SCP declines to comment on the duties and power of “authorised representatives”. In particular, the SCP doesn't comment on the possibility that state's authorised representatives will be able to influence decisions of JSC executive bodies.

Belarus used to have a similar institute of state's authorised representatives as a tool of practical implementation of the golden share rule – the right of the state to control business entities, including those without state's shares at the time of taking this decision. The golden share rule was introduced in Belarus in 1997 and cancelled in March 2008 on ruler's decree. The authorities noted the cancellation of the golden share rule would create favourable conditions for attracting direct foreign investments in the real sector of Belarus's economy, raise the country's rating on the international level and protect the rights of investors in the securities market.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Torture in police department: Threats of killing to get confession

The police department of Minsk's Leninski district again found itself in the middle of a torture scandal.

Pavel Plaksa again reported about using torture against him to make him confess. No one was punished after inquiries were carried out over his complaint. Like in the story of Vasily Sarochyk, policemen used standard tortures: stress positions, batons and putting a plastic bag over arrested man's head. Pavel's relatives didn't know where he was.

Pavel denied his evidence and demanded to carry out medical examination at the first opportunity. Doctors confirmed some days later he had injuries, which he had received in the Leninski district police department. Pavel Plaksa had 25 x 30 cm bruises on his body. He couldn't move his arms, which became blue due to tight handcuffs.

No inquiries gave answers to the following questions:

Pavel was not in the Leninski district police department from 11:15 a.m. 31.05.2012 to 7:00 a.m. 01.06.2012. It is reported that investigative procedures lasted for 7 hours in this period of time.

He was not in the Leninski district police department from 1:00 a.m. To 9:15 a.m. 02.06.2012. It was reported that investigative procedures lasted for 1.5 hours.

He was taken from a detention facility to the Leninski district police department, where he spent five hours from 12 noon to 5:00 p.m. 04.06.2012. No investigative procedures were carried out. Where was the arrested man for a total of 12 hours? What was he doing for that time? What wasn't mentioned in police reports? Why do officers of the Leninski district police department refuse to explain their actions?

The detainee claims policemen wanted him to confess to the offence he hadn't committed and threatened to kill him if he refused to do so.

It became clear why the investigators were so cruel after a court received evidence of the crimes – absence of fingerprints and other signs of presence of the “offender” on the scenes of crime, the fact that he didn't have stolen items, absence of eyewitnesses and phone conversations and so on. Witnesses in investigative procedures were … relatives of the investigators.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Serfdom is back: It will be forbidden to quit

The workers of the wood processing enterprises undergoing modernization will be forbideen to quit their jobs.

“Prepare a decree: until the modernization and reconstructions or these enterprises is over dismissal of the workers is forbidden. A worker cannot quit an enterprise without a manager’s decision”, - Aliaksandr Lukashenka said on Friday when visiting the public corporation Barysaudreu, Interfax reports.

“If they let him go – he can go, if not – must stay and work. For violations they must send workers to compulsive works. If one quits – he or she is sent to compulsive works back here. Or we risk getting into a situation when they will start walking around Barysau and Minsk with pitchforks and stab each other”, - the president said. “Instead of launching the manufacturing and receive a thousand dollars in 2015”, - he added.

“That is why we must forbid any resignations starting from tomorrow, 1 December”, - Lukashenka demanded.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Stefan Fule: It is time for Belarus to release the political prisoners

The European Commissioner opened the IV Civil Society forum of the Eastern Partnership.

Stefan Fule paid a lot of attention to the events, that are taking place in the framework of the Eastern Partnership program.

Also the European Commissioner told about the situation in each of the six participating states.

As for Belarus, the European official called unacceptable for the European Union the situation when there are political prisoners in custody in the country and when there are no visible moves towards the country’s democratization on the part of the Belarusian government.

At the same time the European Commissioner mentioned that Belarus remains a participant of the Eastern Partnership and Belarusian civil society has an opportunity to participate in Eastern Partnership’s programs.

There are fourteen political prisoners in Belarus today. Those who remain imprisoned are a presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich, the leader of Young Front Dzmitry Dashkevich, an entrepreneur Mikalai Autukhovich, human rights activist Ales Bialiatski and ten other opposition activists.

International community and human rights organizations demand the release of Belarusian prisoners of conscience. The European Union and the USA have introduced visa bans and economic sanctions against the dictator’s accomplices – officials and businessmen, involved in repressions and financial support of the regime, in order to achieve the release of the remaining fourteen political prisoners.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau