In the statement made by the Swedish presidency of the Council of EU on 16 July in Vienna the concern was voiced over the sentence of a youth activist Artsiom Dubski, health issues of a political prisoner Mikalai Autukhovich, and refusals to register human rights organisations and political parties.
According to the statement Artsiom Dubski received an un-proportionally harsh sentence for avoiding to serve a restricted freedom sentence to which he was convicted over his participation in a demonstration on 10 January 2008. On 7 July the court handed down to him one year in jail. Earlier this year he was declared prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
The EU reiterated the need for Belarus to respect the fundamental freedoms, such as the freedom of assembly and association. The Belarusian criminal code should be reviewed in order to better reflect these freedoms and to meet European standards.
The EU also remained worried about the health situation of the arrested entrepreneur Mikalai Autukhovich. At the same time, EU urged the Belarusian authorities not to restrict the meetings of the detainee with his family members. The EU asked the Belarusian authorities to consider humanitarian aspects of the case and was looking forward to its early resolution.
Mr Autuchovich a political prisoner of Vaŭkavysk stopped his hunger strike, which lasted for three months on 16 July, having lost more than 25 kg of a body weight. All this time he was being supported by glucose injections.
The death sentence pronounced on 29 June by a regional court in Belarus on Vasil Yazapchuk also gave rise to concerns. EU urged Belarus to abolish the death penalty and, as a first step, to introduce a moratorium.
The statement also said that the EU received mixed signals with regard to registration of political parties and NGOs in Belarus in recent months. While they welcomed the registration of the movement “For Freedom” they deplored registration denials for the Belarusian Christian Democratic Party, the human rights organization “Naša Viasna”, the Belarusian Liberal Party of Freedom and Progress and, most recently, for the Belarusian Assembly of Pro-Democratic Non-governmental organizations.
The statement illustrated the EU expectations that Belarus will honour its commitment to a pluralistic development of the media by granting independent newspapers access to the state-owned distribution system and by accrediting foreign media outlets in the country. In this context the EU called on Belarus to continue its co-operation with the OSCE Office in Minsk and to make full use of its recommendations.
