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Despite all attempts to prevent this from happening on various sides, Svetlana Tichanowskaya has denounced the violence in her home country on the international stage. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Interior Minister has been carried away by one statement or another.
He urges his compatriots to stop believing Lukashenko’s word: Svetlana Tichanovskaya (file image).
Photo: Maciej Kulczynski (Keystone)
Against the massive resistance of Russia and other countries, the Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya has denounced the violence in her homeland on the international stage.
The extent of the brutality used by the “regime” in Belarus under head of state Alexander Lukashenko is unprecedented and in violation of international law. The 38-year-old man said on video Friday during an emergency debate at the UN Human Rights Council.
Diplomats from Russia, Belarus, Venezuela and China tried to prevent the video from being shown at the session on the situation in the former Soviet republic. Tichanovskaya’s message was displayed anyway.
Requires free access to prisons
UN experts said thousands of protesters had been arrested and there were hundreds of reports of torture. It is crucial for the future of the country to end this spiral of increasing repression and violence, said the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, in Geneva. “Civil society is a valuable partner and not a threat.” The Belarusian ambassador denied all the accusations.
At the initiative of European states, the body passed a resolution asking Minsk to grant a UN commission free access to prisons, among other things. 23 countries voted in favor, Eritrea and Venezuela against, 22 countries abstained. The resolution also called on the Minsk government to initiate a dialogue with the opposition and civil society. The 66-year-old is running for his sixth term after the controversial presidential elections on August 9, after 26 years in power.
Countermeasures provided for sanctions
Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey criticized the resolution for interfering in the country’s internal affairs. The chief diplomat announced countermeasures in the event that EU foreign ministers decide on sanctions on Monday. Possible reactions are a list of sanctions against European officials and the withdrawal of the accreditation of foreign correspondents.
Lukashenko again denied in Minsk on Thursday night before a women’s forum that the electoral result of 80.1 percent of the votes was falsified. Lukashenko sees himself as the victim of an international campaign. Therefore, he announced at the event that Belarus would close its borders with its EU neighbors Poland and Lithuania.
Criticisms from Lithuania and Ukraine
Lithuania expressed irritation at the declared border closure and noted that the traffic would continue. “I think it is a provocation for no particular reason,” said President Gitanas Nauseda. “The authorities in some countries simply forget that there is a principle of reciprocity in international relations and that borders can be closed on both sides.” The Belarusian border guard only spoke on Friday of stricter controls at the crossings.
Making fun of Lukashenko on Facebook: Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
Photo: Sergei Dolzhenko (Keystone)
Tichanovskaya accused Lukashenko of declaring the border closure “loss of reality.” She urged her compatriots not to believe a word more than it was saying. In neighboring Ukraine, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said: “Lukashenko is obviously going crazy.” He talks “nonsense” and suffers from “paranoia”. “You will probably get your messages from Putin,” Avakov wrote on Facebook, referring to the support given by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Lukashenko. The ruler must drink vodka and calm down.
Sakharov Prize nominee
The democratic opposition in Belarus has also now been nominated for the prestigious Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament. In addition to other candidates, she can be found twice in the list of proposals published on Friday: once at the request of leading Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Liberals and another, for a slightly different reason, nominated by the ECR group critical of the EU. .
The Sakharov Prize has been awarded by the European Parliament since 1988 to personalities or organizations working for the defense of human rights and freedom of expression. On October 22, it will be announced who will receive this year’s award. The award ceremony is in December.
During Tuesday’s plenary debate on the situation in Belarus, several parliamentarians put the nomination of the Belarusian opposition at stake. In addition to Tichanovskaya, who sees herself as the winner of the presidential elections, they named activists Maria Kolesnikowa and Veronika Zepkalo. The three women joined forces in the election campaign after Lukashenko had two presidential hopefuls locked up. Tichanovskaya appeared as a representative of the opposition. After the vote, she left her homeland under pressure from the authorities and lives in Lithuania.
Opposition lawyer on hunger strike
In his video of the human rights debate, Tichanovskaya called for the release of all political prisoners and for new elections. Jailed opposition lawyer Maxim Snak went on a hunger strike on Friday to protest against the arbitrariness of the authorities. The 39-year-old lawyer was accused of endangering national security, announced a spokesman for the democracy movement.
Attorney Maxim Snak speaks at a Belarusian opposition press conference.
Photo: Ulf Mauder (Keystone / dpa)
It was a mock indictment to suppress freedom of speech, said Snak’s attorney, Dmitri Lajewski. If convicted, Snak faces up to five years in prison, like Kolesnikova, who was arrested on the same charges.
Lawyer Snak is a member of the Presidium of the Belarusian Civil Society Coordination Council for a Peaceful Change of Power. Lukashenko’s power apparatus has been carrying out arrests and raids on the body for weeks. Most of the members of the presidium are in detention or abroad. Only the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature Svetlana Alexijewitsch and, since Friday, the trade unionist Sergei Dylewski, are free in Minsk.
