Brussels, 15/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 March, the European Parliament decided to postpone its vote on a resolution condemning the Belarus regime's repression to the mini-plenary session on 28-29 March. The request for postponement was made by Kristian Vigenin (S&D, Bulgaria) who explained that it would enable “the Belarus authorities to respond and think about the current situation and amend the resolution and include the most recent developments we hope will occur over the next few days”. On the previous day, MEPs debated the situation and denounced human rights violations.
In Belarus, however, opponents denounced the increased repression, before the examination on 23 March of new European sanctions against the regime. Approximately ten human rights activists and journalists have been banned from leaving Belarus territory. According to Vladimir Labkovitch, from the Viasna Human Rights Defence Centre, “this new form of political repression is against civil society”. He added that “this is a message to Europe that says Minsk will respond to new sanctions with increased repression”. (CG/transl.fl)