Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-07-05-Speech-4-250-000"
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"en.20120705.24.4-250-000"2
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"Mr President, on 23 September, Belarus will go to the polls in parliamentary elections. This debate, therefore, is very timely as we all know that freedom of expression is an essential element for any free election campaign. I think it is extremely timely that we have this very strong message from a very broad part of the European Parliament.
This resolution clearly urges the government of Belarus to immediately and unconditionally release and rehabilitate all political prisoners and, moreover, the resolution establishes the mandate of a special rapporteur on Belarus who will report annually to the Human Rights Council and to the UN General Assembly.
I think that this is a major success for the European Union which this time gained a higher number of positive votes and a lower number of negative votes on the establishment of the special rapporteur than for much milder reporting mechanisms only last year. The situation is serious, but this was some good news.
Vice-President/High Representative Ashton remains seriously concerned about the continued lack of respect for human rights, the rule of law and democratic principles in Belarus.
Since April, when prominent political prisoners Sannikov and Bondarenka were released, there has been no further release of political prisoners and those who have been released remain subject to heavy restrictions on their civil and political rights. Instead, we have, over the last weeks, again seen an intensification of the repressive policies against independent voices, notably by means of administrative fines and sentences.
The spokesperson of Vice-President/High Representative Ashton therefore last week expressed her ‘deep concern about numerous reports over the last weeks of acts of harassment of representatives of civil society, the opposition and independent media’.
The freedom of the media remains seriously curtailed in Belarus and independent journalists are frequently directly targeted by the authorities. In the statement of the spokesperson of Vice-President/High Representative Ashton, particular reference was made to journalist Andrzej Poczobut who, for his journalistic activities, as we have already heard here today, has again been charged with libel against the President.
Earlier this week, Mr Poczobut was released, but the charges against him have so far not been dropped. Other recent cases against journalists include the sentencing of Pavel Sviardlou to 15 days of administrative arrest for allegedly swearing in public.
As Belarus prepares for the September parliamentary elections, an overall climate of fear prevails in which independent political expression or manifestation is not tolerated and independent journalists are systematically impeded from exercising their activities.
The Vice-President/High Representative therefore again calls on the authorities to stop all acts of harassment of representatives of the independent media, civil society and the political opposition and to reverse the current repressive policies.
To Ms Essayah and others who want an increased effort, I have some encouraging news for you. As of today, there is a new development because the UN Human Rights Council earlier today adopted an EU-sponsored resolution on the human rights situation in Belarus, with 22 votes in favour, 20 abstentions and three votes against."@en1
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