“As the Council of Europe, as the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), we want to be part of the solution in Belarus”, PACE President Rik Daems told the Assembly opening of the videoconference held by the Political Affairs Committee with the former presidential candidate of Belarus, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, and Andrei Savinykh, Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of Belarus.
A refugee in Lithuania, the opponent denounced “the totally unacceptable situation” in which Belarus finds itself, insisting on the brutality and arrests suffered by the demonstrators, abuses also denounced in a statement by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, published on Tuesday morning.
Commenting on the disappearance of Maria Kolesnikova on Monday and the arrest of members of her team, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya refused to let this state of affairs “be the destiny” of her country. “Like millions of Belarusians”, she calls for international pressure, sanctions against individuals who violate international law and political dialogue to “move the country forward”.
Sanctions will serve no purpose, replied Andrei Savinykh, who certified that the Belarusian system is capable of developing for a sustainable transition. He denies any credibility to Tikhanovskaya, referring to the results of the 9 August election, which, according to him, was marred only by the coordination of foreign social networks (in particular groups belonging to the Polish armed forces) to “create political emotion that spilled over violently into the streets”.
With the exception of the representatives of the Russian delegation, the majority of speakers expressed empathy with the Belarusian people. The Political Affairs Committee has already prepared two resolutions on this crisis, one on the urgency of an inclusive national political process and the other on the need to reform the electoral process. Speakers also stressed the importance of sending a delegation on the spot.
Ultimately, said British Conservative Cheryl Gillan, chair of the committee, those who have spoken want Belarus to finally be able to join the Council of Europe. Minsk had requested it in 1993, but its parliament’s special guest status was suspended in 1997, which did not prevent PACE from pursuing a permanent dialogue with parliamentarians, civil society and the extra-parliamentary opposition in this country, the last in Europe to apply the death penalty. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)