European Parliament condemns “crackdown on peaceful protesters” in Belarus
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution that condemns the “crackdown on peaceful protesters” in mass demonstrations by thousands of citizens across Belarus, in particular on Freedom Day (25 March), when security forces violently attacked and beat protesters and arrested hundreds of people, including domestic and foreign journalists reporting on the events.
The protests were directed against the adoption of a Presidential Decree introducing a so-called “social-parasite tax”, designed to penalise unemployment with fees and forced labour.
MEPs express concern over the latest developments and a “new wave of repression” in Belarus, which includes raids on civil society organisations and “preventive” arrests of opposition members before protests. They see a “clear need for a broader democratisation process in the country” and call on the Belarusian authorities to release everyone detained in the course of the protests, to stop the harassment of independent media and civil society and to allow public organisations to function fully.
Parliament further recalls that the EU lifted most of the restrictive measures against Belarusian officials in February 2016 “as a gesture of goodwill to encourage Belarus to improve its human rights, democracy and rule of law record”, and warns that in the event of failure to carry out thorough and impartial investigations into all allegations in connection with the recent demonstrations, the EU may impose new restrictive measures.
The Resolution separately mentions the recent acts of harassment of human rights defenders.
"On 25 March 2017 the police raided the office of the Human Rights Centre ‘Viasna’ in the Belarusian capital, preventatively arresting at least 57 persons involved in the monitoring of ongoing peaceful protests; other human rights defenders, such as Oleg Volchek, a head of the Human Rights Centre ‘Legal Assistance to the Population’, and Anatoli Poplavni, a member of the Gomel branch of the Human Rights Centre ‘Viasna’, were detained and sentenced to short terms of imprisonment; Leonid Sudalenka, a member of ‘Viasna’, was also detained and convicted for having submitted over 200 citizens’ complaints against the provisions of the above-mentioned Presidential Decree No 3."
