04/03/2005 | News
PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting in Paris on 3 March, adopted the following declaration: “The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe notes with grave concern the recent trial and imprisonment of Mr Mikhail Marynich. Mr Marynich is an opposition politician in Belarus, who had stood against the current President in the 2001 presidential elections, and a former ambassador of Belarus to various European countries. Mr Marynich was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment on charges relating to the theft of computer equipment from the US embassy in Belarus, despite the fact that the US State Department itself made clear that it had no complaints against him ..."
23/11/2004 | Standing Committee
The situation in Belarus, as we can see every day, blocks the fulfilment of the very mission of the Council of Europe which was set up in order to ensure greater unity in Europe on the basis of common values, said PACE President Peter Schieder, speaking today during a debate on the situation in Belarus at a meeting of the PACE Standing Committee in Warsaw.
20/10/2004 | President
PACE President Peter Schieder has condemned the reported arrests of at least 30 persons, including opposition leaders, at rallies of opponents of President Lukashenko. "These arrests clearly illustrate that the 17 October elections, which fell significantly short of international commitments for democratic elections, and the illegal referendum, have taken Belarus yet further away from European standards," he said.
04/10/2004 | President
On 4 October, PACE President Peter Schieder made the following statement: “We express our deep concern at recent news from Belarus about arbitrary arrests of opposition politicians, blatant violations of freedom of expression and the repression of independent media in the run up to the legislative elections to be held on 17 October. We urge the Belarusian authorities to do their utmost to guarantee free and fair elections. It must be ensured that all candidates have the same chances. According to my information, one party was already dissolved; others have received warnings and might be de-registered."
29/09/2004 | News
In a letter to the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, PACE President Peter Schieder today called on the organisation's executive body to prevent Belarus Sports Minister, formerly Interior Minister, Y.L. Sivakov, from attending the 45-nation organisation's 10 th Conference of European Ministers responsible for Sport in Budapest on 14-15 October 2004. Mr Sivakov is alleged in the PACE report on "disappeared persons in Belarus" to have been involved in the disappearance of opposition figures. On the basis of PACE Resolution 1371 (2004), the European Union had prevented Mr Sivakov from attending the Olympic Games. On 27 September the EU decided to restrict admission to its territory of those who are considered by the PACE report to be key actors in the disappearances as well as those considered primarily responsible for failing to initiate an investigation and prosecution of the alleged crimes.
16/09/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Assembly's Legal Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris, has said it is outraged at today’s arrest of Tatiana Reviaka and Garry Pogoniaïlo in Belarus. According to a report by AFP, the two human rights activists were arrested today in Minsk while distributing copies of a PACE report by Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) which accuses several high representatives of the Lukashenko regime of being responsible for the murder of opposition figures.
14/09/2004 | President
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President Peter Schieder today expressed great concern over the Belarusian President’s decision to hold, in parallel with the parliamentary elections on 17 October 2004, a referendum on allowing a president to run without limitations in future presidential elections. “While we cannot deny the right of the Belarusian authorities to hold a referendum in this context, we urge them to ensure that it be held in conformity with Council of Europe standards, as also stressed by the EU Council," he said.
05/07/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have decided to join forces and adopted a common declaration of concern, made public today, on the case of Victor Gonchar, a prominent opposition politician who disappeared in Belarus.
28/04/2004 | News
The Assembly today called for “a maximum of political pressure” on the leadership of Belarus until high-ranking state officials, including current Prosecutor General Victor Sheyman, were fully investigated for their role in the disappearances of four men in 1999 and 2000 and any subsequent cover-up. Sanctions should include the possible suspension of Belarus’s participation in Council of Europe agreements and activities as well as contacts on a political level, while co-operation with civil society should be stepped up, the parliamentarians said. They also encouraged those countries whose courts have international jurisdiction to open murder proceedings.
08/04/2004 | News
Disappeared persons and the persecution of the press in Belarus, the honouring of commitments by Turkey and Albania, and Monaco's application for membership of the Council of Europe top the agenda of the Assembly’s spring session (Strasbourg, 26-30 April 2004). Reports on the strengthening of the United Nations, on euthanasia and on the situation of European prisons and pre-trial detention centres will also be debated. There have been requests for urgent debates on the situation in Kosovo and the new Dutch policy on asylum-seekers. Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader (Tuesday 27), Netherlands Prime Minister Peter Balkenende and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers Bernard Bot (Wednesday 28), and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev (Thursday 29) are among guest speakers.
30/01/2004 | News
The Bureau of the Assembly rejected the Belarus Parliament's request for restoration of its special guest status with the Parliamentary Assembly. The Bureau considered that the reasons which had led to the suspension in 1997 were still valid. However, it expressed the desire to continue dialogue with Belarus and to observe the parliamentary elections due to be held there in the autumn of 2004.
27/01/2004 | News
Senior Belarus officials may have been involved in the disappearances of four men, including a former minister, in Belarus during 1999 and 2000, and steps were taken “at the highest level of the State” to cover up the true background of the disappearances, according to a report of the Assembly's Legal Affairs Committee unanimously approved today. The report, by Cypriot parliamentarian Christos Pourgourides, calls for "a maximum of political pressure" on the current leadership of Belarus.