The Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), has condemned the new wave of violence against peaceful protesters, journalists and human rights defenders in Belarus.

“I am concerned about the rough dispersal of peaceful demonstrations in Minsk and other cities in 3 of July Independence Day, with hundreds of protesters being brutally beaten and detained merely for clapping hands,” he said. (more...)