Catherine Ashton and Hillary Clinton express their concerns about human rights in Belarus on the anniversary of the 19 December 2010 crackdown. Today they remember the one year anniversary of the start of the brutal crackdown by the Belarus Government on civil society, political opposition and independent media.
Ashton points out that over the past 12 months, the Belarusian authorities have imprisoned peaceful demonstrators, suppressed non-violent protests, and worked to silence independent voices. There have also been credible reports of degrading and inhumane treatment of
political prisoners.
A number of them have been set free, but we reiterate our call for all
political prisoners to be immediately released and rehabilitated, including presidential candidates Andrei Sannikau and Mikalai Statkevich, and human rights defender Ales Byalyatski.
Hillary Clinton expresses grave concern over new laws that will further restrict citizens' fundamental freedoms of assembly, association and expression and that target support to civil society. Alexander Lukashenko's already-grim record since coming to power in 1994 worsened with harsh repression of protests after his pseudoreelection on 19 December 2010, when a score of journalists reporting on it were arrested and beaten by police. House searches, arrests and trials in Minsk and elsewhere have increased.
Reporters Without Borders points out the state monopoly of all printing and distribution networks allows for instant crackdown on journalists who try to rock the boat of Belarus. Selective granting of accreditation forces many foreign media outlets and their local correspondents to work illegally, making them even more vulnerable. More than ever, the only option is to go underground, returning to Soviet-era "samizdats" (forbidden material copied and distributed clandestinely). The Internet does not make up for this, as cybercafe users and shared-line phone subscribers have since last year been identified and monitored, and website content subject to prior approval and monitoring by an "analysis centre" directly attached to the president's office. All this in a country bordering the European Union.
Lukashenko pseudojustice emulates the Greek kangaroo justice. Greece has become a Kangaroo Valley, violating basic human rights and Article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty, but nobody gives a damn. We cannot understand why the European Commission tolerates political persecution and freakish Kangaroo Justice within the borders of the European Union and cannot refer the Greek government to the Court of Justice of the European Union for violating the Lisbon Treaty. We cannot understand why the European Ombudsman cannot protect Greeks from appalling violations of Article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty by the Greek government. If the European Union cannot protect Greeks from the repressive Greek government, who will? http://venitism.blogspot.com
The governments of Belarus and Greece use charge stacking to persecute dissident bloggers. Charge stacking is the ability to charge a large number of overlapping crimes for a single course of conduct. Combining crimes enables prosecutors to get convictions in cases where there is no misconduct at all. By stacking enough charges, including treason, prosecutors jack up the threat value of a trial against a dissident blogger, even if the government's case is very weak. Charge stacking is terror. The governments of Greece and Belarus cannot terrorize their people.
Persecuting dissident bloggers, the Greek government violates Article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty, which states the European Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, nondiscrimination, tolerance, and justice prevail.
Catherine Ashton and Hillary Clinton reiterate that the improvement of bilateral relations with the United States and the European Union is conditional on progress by the Government of Belarus towards the
fulfillment of its OSCE commitments and the respect for fundamental human rights, the rule of law and democratic principles. The United States and the European Union remain willing to assist Belarus as it works to meet these obligations.
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