Information about tortures in Belarus became world-known
The use of tortures in Belarus was discussed at the OSCE Conference on Human Dimension that is held on 30 September -8 October in Warsaw. A representative of the Belarusian human rights organization Legal Initiative Siarhei Ustsinau took the floor and reported about the use of torture during the investigation of crimes, persecution of the people who reported about torture; violent dispersals of peaceful protest actions and the prison conditions.
The session of 5 October touched upon one of the main topics of the conference – the ban on the use of torture in the countries that belong to the OSCE responsibility zone. ‘Representatives of the state agencies of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan responded to reports about torture by admitting the facts of human rights violations in their countries, whereas representatives of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ignored my report about the use of torture, which confirms the reluctance of the Belarusian authorities to consider this problem,’ said Mr. Ustsinau.
The human rights defender is convinced that it is necessary to spread the information about torture and the prison conditions in Belarus not only inside the country, but also at the international level. ‘My duty as a human rights defender is to take all possible measures for improving the situation of human rights in my country, because such information often fosters the solution of the problem raised. Apart from informing the OSCE about the numerous facts of torture in Belarus, I demanded from the Belarusian state to implement a number of measures on its prevention,’ stated Siarhei Ustsinau.
The official representatives of the national governments had the opportunity to give answers to reports of representatives of NGOs. However, the official representative of Belarus, officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anton Shmyhau left the report of Mr. Ustsinau uncommented.
