Brussels, 05/12/12 (Agence Europe) - The vice-president of Viasna human rights centre, Valiantsin Stefanovic, stressed in Brussels on Wednesday 4 December that the EU must keep in place its sanctions against Belarus. Now is not the time to talk of ending sanctions, nothing is changing, he stressed after a meeting with the Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, Stefan Füle. Whilst stressing that the influence of the EU in Belarus is unfortunately not that great, Stefanovic said that it was important to see a concrete EU position on political prisoners, their liberation and their rehabilitation, as a precondition for any further dialogue between Brussels and Minsk.
Stefanovic, who was himself prosecuted and banned from leaving the country for five months, also voiced concerns at the toughening imprisonment conditions of several political prisoners, who have been transferred from camps into prisons. He explained that his centre, Viasna, which has been thrown out of the premises in which he has officiated for 12 years, is to resume its activities in new premises in the New Year. Explaining that the authorities continued to bring pressure to bear on Viasna, Stefanovic stressed that if the government wants Viasna to stop, it will have to put all of its members in prison.
Zhanna Litvina, co-founder of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, welcomed the fact that the EU is open to dialogue with Belarus and Belarusian civil society and prepared to look for ways of improving the situation. No democratisation is possible if there is no freedom of the media, she stressed. She called for charges against journalists to be dropped, and laid emphasis on the direct intervention of the authorities in the media, preventing journalists from carrying out their work in a professional way.
For his part, Füle reiterated that the EU's message is clear: there is no room for political prisoners in Europe in the 21st century. He once again called for the liberation of prisoners and the rehabilitation of their civic and political rights so that they may have an active role and bring democracy to Belarus. He also reiterated his call on the authorities to stop the harassment of human rights defenders and those who promote the freedom of expression in Belarus. The Commissioner pledged human rights defenders the support of the European institution and of the member states in their work and promised that the commitment of the EU would continue. (CG/transl.fl)