UN Human Rights Council: Release political prisoners immediately

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released its recommendations in human rights sector to the Belarusian authorities.

The oral report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, was presented on Tuesday at a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, ITAR-TASS reports.

The UN calls on the Belarusian authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release all political opponents, activists and journalists who had not been involved in the violence” in December last year. Besides, the report urges Minsk to “conduct an impartial and credible investigation of circumstances in which those persons were arrested and detained” and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The Deputy UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang, called on Minsk to “put an immediate end to all forms of political and administrative pressure and harassment of human rights defenders and initiate a comprehensive review of the legal framework and the Criminal Code”. The report also contains a recommendation to allow an OHCHR mission to visit the country in the nearest time.

Mikhail Khvostov, a permanent representative of Belarus to the UN and other international organizations, said responding to the report that the information presented was incorrect and biased. The report gives a biased estimation of the situation offering the Council an incorrect set of evaluations and interpretations.

“The polarization of the Council’s activity is a repetition of the situation with the Commission on Human Rights, which became known as a body that lost credibility due to inability to consider human rights situation objectively,” Khvostov warned and offered to think about future of the Council for Human Rights.

Discussion on the report is expected to be continued on Wednesday. The written report by the Hugh Commissioner on human rights situation in Belarus will be presented during the 20th session of the Council next year.