The President of the European Parliament urged the Belarusan authorities to release political prison
16.02.2012
The President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz is “appalled by the deteriorating situation in Belarus regarding democracy and human rights”.
He declared about it on February 14th in Strasbourg, after a meeting with Štefan Füle, the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, during which they discussed the situation in Belarus, as informed by the Press Service of the EU Office in Minsk.
Schulz also said that “the prolonged hunger strike by jailed opposition activist Siarhiej Kavalenka highlights violations of democratic principles and disrespect for the rule of law. Kavalenka's life is now under threat from the hunger strike against his unjustified imprisonment.”
Schulz urged the Belarusan authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally and to provide him with the necessary medical assistance. "The Belarusan authorities will have blood on their hands if he dies", Schulz underlined.
He repeated his call to free and rehabilitate all remaining political prisoners, including two former presidential candidates Mikola Statkevich and Andrei Sannikau, prominent human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, opposition activists Dmitry Bandarenka, Mikalaj Autukhovich, Zmitser Dashkevich, and others.
“I would also like to repeat my personal appeal to President Lukashenko to pardon Vladislav Kovaliov and Dmitry Konovalov, who are on death row after the Belarus Supreme Court upheld their sentence,” said Schulz. “We stand against the death penalty under any circumstances and we call on Belarus, the last remaining country in Europe that still uses it, to introduce a moratorium on capital punishment”.
Schulz also stressed that on February 16th the European Parliament will discuss the problem of application of the death penalty in Belarus, Egypt, and Japan, and that it will voice its grave concern over these cases in a resolution.
“We deeply regret that the stance of the authorities keeps the relations between Belarus and the EU frozen," said Schulz. “The citizens of Belarus deserve better. The European Parliament strongly supports civil society and the democratic aspirations of the Belarusan people and encourages the authorities in Minsk to respond positively to the EU offer of visa facilitation for its citizens”.
Siarhiej Kavalenka was arrested in December 2011 within the scope of the criminal case by the terms of article 415 of the Criminal Code (evasion from service of sentence in the form of restraint of liberty). He may have up to three years of imprisonment. A pretext for criminal prosecution became four infringements, which Kavalenka ostensibly committed when he served time under a sentence of the Court of October District of Viciebsk. In May 2010, the court sentenced him to three years of imprisonment conditionally for placing the white-red-white flag on the main fur-tree of Viciebsk on January, 7th.
Kavalenka started his hunger-strike in sign of his disagreement with his detention. The wife of the oppositionist Elena Kavalenka, referring to the lawyer, claims that the hunger-strike was stopped forcibly by employees of the pre-trial detention center on January, 16th - Siarhiej was forced to receive food through a probe. Then, according to the administration of the pre-trial detention center, for a short time, Kavalenka ate independently once a day. However, at this juncture, according to the lawyer, he has completely refused to accept food, including by forced alimentation, as informed by the human rights defending web-site Spring96.Org.
.png)
