Index on Censorship and Free Belarus Now have condemned the decision by a consortium of majority-state owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Sberbank to issue $850 million of Belarusian government bonds in January even after the scale of the human rights violations in this country became apparent.
After a meeting with representatives from Index on Censorship and Free Belarus Now RBS decided in August that it will not sale any of Belarusian government bonds.
RBS’s decision to rule out any further bond issues due to the “deteriorating political situation” in Belarus has exasperated the authoritarian regime’s continuing credit crisis. The Belarusian ruble devalued more that twice this year alone and the country desperately needs new loans.
DB should follow RBS
Mike Harris, Head of Advocacy at Index on Censorship said that Ms Merkel’s in
fluence could stop European banks issuing Belarusian government bonds.
“Alongside RBS, Deutsche Bank can send a clear signal not to risk investing in a regime that violates fundamental human rights”, he added.
At a meeting with representatives of the Belarusian opposition as part of the Eastern Partnership in Warsaw, Merkel heard first hand allegations of torture and kidnap that have been raised since last December’s controversial election.
In Warsaw European Union leaders have condemned Belarus over its crackdown on the political opposition and underlined the need for changes in Belarus and to reverse its policies toward the opposition.
Merkel promised to speak to DB
Irina Bogdanova, sister of jailed presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov told that she raised DeutscheBank’s sale of Belarusian government bonds directly with Angela Merkel.
“While my brother languishes in jail after a show trial, I’m incredulous that any business in modern Europe could lend any support whatsoever to Lukashenka’s vile regime. Angela Merkel was deeply concerned and promised to speak to the bank”, she said.
Andrey Sannikau has been moved from one prison to other for the third time in just over a week. On September 26, after uncertainty over his whereabouts, Sannikau’s lawyer, Andrey Varvashevich, was able to see him in transit detention center No. 4 in the eastern city of Mahileu.
Key opposition figure relased after EU pressure
A day after the EU leaders in Polish capital warned Lukashenka to free all political prisoners if Minsk wanted warmer ties with Brussels, Lukashenka gave a presidential pardon to Dmitry Vus, a candidate in the country’s presidential election in December.
“I think he was released given the state of his health,” his mother Sofia told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on 2 October.
Vus, like other opposition leaders and activists, was arrested in a crackdown following the disputed poll on 17 December 2010.
Civil society seeks to prosecute Lukashenka
Money may not be the only instrument to put halter on Lukashenko. Belarusian civil society together with the legal team from the United Kingdom have launched a new initiative against the ‘Last Dictator in Europe’.
British lawyers have launched an innovative “prosecution kit” which gives citizens throughout the world the tools to pursue Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenka through the courts.
If Lukashenka should travel to the U.K. the lawyers will seek a warrant for his arrest. On behalf of their clients from Belarus, his victims and their families, the legal team also invites national governments and international civil society to make preparations in their own jurisdictions to arrest Lukashenka should he travel there.
“A new civil society approach to international justice may be used to help combat impunity in relation to torture and other international crimes by empowering victims everywhere against despots, war criminals and other human rights offenders. No longer must we wait for our governments to fulfill their duty and enforce the rule of law when we now have the means to do so ourselves”, said Matthew Jury, a partner at “McCue & Partners LLP”.
Matthew Jury is an expert in counter-terrorism litigation, domestic and international human rights law and public international law. “McCue & Partners” represent a number of opposition Belarusian politicians and campaigners and their families who allege torture and hostage-taking by the Lukashenka Regime.
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