- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on
25 January 2012 (5th Sitting) (see Doc. 12820, report of the Committee
on Political Affairs and Democracy, rapporteur: Mr Herkel; and Doc. 12840, opinion
of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur:
Ms Beck). Text adopted by the Assembly on 25 January 2012 (5th Sitting).See
also Recommendation 1992 (2012).
- Thesaurus
1. The Parliamentary Assembly is deeply
concerned about the deteriorating situation of human rights and civil
and political liberties in Belarus, since the adoption in January
2011 of
Resolution 1790
(2011) on the situation in Belarus in the aftermath of
the presidential election.
2. The Belarusian authorities have continued to take an increasingly
repressive approach to any attempt to express dissent, with ongoing
intimidation and arbitrary detentions and the targeting of members
of the opposition, independent media, civil society activists and
human rights defenders. Such actions confirm a worrying trend that
the authorities in Minsk are deliberately turning their backs on
Europe and the values it upholds.
3. The Assembly deplores that a number of individuals, including
former presidential candidates and civil society activists, as well
as prominent human rights defenders, remain in prison on political
grounds. It notes that some of those who were sentenced to prison
terms for their involvement in protests against the government have
since been pardoned. However, some prisoners have alleged that they
were pressured into appealing for clemency and admitting their guilt
in order to secure release. In many cases, the released prisoners
claim that they were subjected to torture, given inadequate medical
attention and denied proper access to legal representation.
4. In the light of recent worrying developments in the fields
of freedom of expression, of assembly and of association, the Assembly:
4.1 condemns the continuous persecution
of members of the opposition and the harassment of civil society
activists, independent media and human rights defenders in Belarus;
4.2 is deeply concerned about the conditions of detention
of political prisoners, who are often held incommunicado and run
a serious risk of torture and other forms of ill-treatment;
4.3 deplores the sentencing of Ales Bialiatski to four-and-a-half
years of imprisonment for alleged tax evasion and considers this
is tantamount to judicial harassment of a human rights defender
for carrying out legitimate human rights activities in a country
where independent organisations cannot register and receive funds
from abroad;
4.4 condemns politically motivated recourse to taxation laws
to suppress human rights defenders’ activities;
4.5 deplores the recent legislative changes, adopted in October
2011, which further restrict freedom of expression, assembly and
association, bringing the work of Belarusian non-governmental organisations
under even tighter political control and which outlaw any foreign
financing.
5. As regards freedom of the media, the Assembly:
5.1 notes with grave concern that
independent newspapers and other independent media organisations
continue to be harassed and targeted through the use of fines and
intimidation of potential advertisers;
5.2 condemns the practice of “warnings” issued by the Belarusian
authorities against a number of journalists and human rights organisations,
and considers that they constitute a violation of internationally
recognised human rights standards;
5.3 condemns the practice of creating so-called blacklists
of journalists, human rights defenders and other activists, aimed
at restricting the exercise of their professional work and freedom
of movement.
6. As regards the death penalty, the Assembly:
6.1 expresses dismay at the execution
of the death sentences against Aleh Gryshkautsou and Andrei Burdyka,
in July 2011, when their cases were pending before the United Nations
Human Rights Committee, and the continuing failure of Belarus to
take any tangible steps towards the abolition of the death penalty
or the introduction of a moratorium on it;
6.2 deplores the death sentences handed down on 30 November
2011 against Dmitry Konovalov and Vladislav Kovalev and is seriously
worried that the investigation and the trial were marred by serious human
rights abuses (including the use of torture in order to extract
confessions), contradictions and gaps in the evidence presented
at the trial; it calls on the competent authorities to carry out
a full investigation of the allegations made in this context and
to ensure true justice for the victims of the heinous acts of terrorism
in question, and reiterates that such an irreversible, cruel and
inhumane penalty is unacceptable, however heinous the alleged crimes;
6.3 notes with regret that the work of the parliamentary working
group on the study of the death penalty issue, initiated two years
ago, has not produced any tangible results.
7. With regard to the situation of human rights and political
freedoms, the Assembly reiterates its call to the Belarusian authorities
to:
7.1 release and rehabilitate
all political prisoners, including those who were pardoned, and
conduct a thorough and credible investigation into the allegations
of ill-treatment and torture at the time of arrest and while on
detention;
7.2 refrain from putting pressure on political prisoners,
guarantee proper legal and medical assistance to all prisoners,
and allow their families adequate access to them;
7.3 allow lawyers to perform their professional duties without
fear of retaliation, reinstate the licences of those lawyers disbarred
on political grounds and stop the extraordinary qualification exams
for already qualified lawyers;
7.4 repeal Article 193-1 of the Criminal Code, which penalises
the organisation of, and participation in, activities of non-registered
public associations;
7.5 guarantee freedom of assembly and put an end to the use
of force to disperse protests and arrest demonstrators;
7.6 ensure freedom of expression and stop the harassment of
journalists and independent media and the practice of “warnings”;
7.7 allow the Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) mission to return and resume operations in the country;
7.8 co-operate fully with all international human rights organisations
and respond positively to the requests for visits made by Assembly
rapporteurs, United Nations bodies, the OSCE and the European Union,
including to places where political prisoners are detained;
7.9 immediately introduce a moratorium on executions, with
a view to the complete abolition of the death penalty, in compliance
with repeated calls from the Assembly; it urges the Belarusian authorities not
to carry out the death sentences pronounced against Dmitry Konovalov
and Vladislav Kovalev;
7.10 hold to account the perpetrators as well as the instigators
and organisers of the disappearances of Yuri Zakharenko, Victor
Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovski and Dmitri Zavadski, in line with the
Assembly’s urgent request first made in
Resolution 1371 (2004) on disappeared
persons in Belarus.
8. With regard to the 2012 parliamentary elections, the Assembly
urges the Belarusian authorities to:
8.1 pursue the reform process of the electoral legislation
and practice by taking into account the full set of recommendations
of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR)
and the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission);
8.2 take immediate measures to strengthen the independence
of the Belarus Electoral Commission and its regional bodies;
8.3 invite international observers, including the OSCE and
other parliamentary organisations, including the Assembly, to monitor
the elections, as well as the electoral campaign;
8.4 pursue further measures to ensure, both in legislation
and in practice, the transparency of vote counting during elections
and to give observers the opportunity to monitor effectively the
voting process, the vote counting and the tabulation of the results.
9. The Assembly encourages all political forces and activists
engaged in the forthcoming parliamentary election campaign to focus
on the many challenges facing citizens and put forward concrete
programmes of policy change for improving people’s lives, focusing
on political and economic reforms.
10. The Assembly considers that the international community’s
engagement with the people of Belarus should be broad, deep and
long-term in nature. Openness, dialogue and multiple contacts are
essential in order to reach out to Belarusian citizens.
11. Therefore, the Assembly resolves to:
11.1 step up its engagement with representatives of civil society,
independent media and opposition forces, as well as with independent
professional associations, to increase support for their development, and
to invite them to attend round tables, seminars and hearings organised
by its committees;
11.2 enhance co-operation between its different bodies working
on Belarus and their counterparts in the European Parliament, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and the Civil Society Forum of
the Eastern Partnership of the European Union, with a view to increasing
the effectiveness of the activities of the European institutions
aimed at strengthening civil society in Belarus.
12. Furthermore, the Assembly encourages the Council of Europe
member States to:
12.1 use their
political and diplomatic leverage to convince the Belarusian authorities
to take the relevant legislative initiatives to bring domestic law
into conformity with internationally recognised human rights standards
and to co-operate effectively with the Council of Europe, the (OSCE)
and the European Union, as well as with United Nations bodies;
12.2 align themselves on the European Union regime of targeted
sanctions until the release and full rehabilitation of all political
prisoners, and urge the Belarusian authorities to end the crackdown
on political opponents;
12.3 further develop channels of communication with representatives
of Belarusian civil society, the independent media and opposition
forces;
12.4 consider revising international and bilateral mechanisms
of information exchange with a view to preventing data misuse by
the Belarusian authorities;
12.5 consider reducing or eliminating entry visa fees for Belarusian
citizens;
12.6 continue to open universities and offer scholarship programmes
to young Belarusian students, and establish links with the European
Humanities University in exile in Vilnius, and with the Council
of Europe School of Political Studies, also in exile in Kiev.
13. The Assembly also calls on the European Union and its member
States to:
13.1 maintain and consider
strengthening the regime of targeted sanctions, especially against
State-owned enterprises connected with President Lukashenko and
other senior officials who continue to repress the Belarusian people,
until the release and full rehabilitation of all political prisoners
and the end of the crackdown on political opposition, independent
media and human rights defenders;
13.2 continue to support, including financially, the development
of civil society organisations, including human rights organisations
and independent media, independent professional associations, grass-roots organisations
with non-political missions and network-building organisations focused
on making better use of the Internet and social networking tools,
and offering opportunities for young people to become more engaged
in their communities;
13.3 set up programmes of exchanges and professional training
targeted at journalists and human rights lawyers.
14. The Assembly reiterates that there cannot be progress on dialogue
with the Belarusian authorities without progress towards Council
of Europe standards.
15. In the light of developments since the adoption of its
Resolution 1790 (2011) in
January 2011, the Assembly can only reaffirm its decision to put
on hold its activities involving high-level contacts with the Belarusian
authorities and its call to the Bureau of the Assembly not to lift
the suspension of the special guest status for the Parliament of
Belarus:
15.1 until a moratorium
on the use of the death penalty has been decreed by the competent
Belarusian authorities;
15.2 until there is substantial, tangible and verifiable progress
in terms of respect for the democratic values and principles upheld
by the Council of Europe.
