One year has passed since the fraudulent presidential election in Belarus declared Lukashenka the winner. What came after was an increasing and unacceptable repression, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights said today in an article published in the weekly New Europe.

Thousands of people took part in protest demonstrations in Minsk the evening of election day on 19 December 2010. They were met with indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by the police, and no less than 700 demonstrators were arrested. Most of them were sentenced in summary trials to fines or administrative arrest for five to fifteen days. Some prisoners were ill-treated and others moved around between institutions or declared unavailable when lawyers and family members sought to use their right to visit them in prison. Lawyers who took up their cases have been disbarred and deprived of the possibility to represent people in court proceedings.

At the same time, human rights groups have been put under systematic surveillance and pressure. The widely-respected chairman of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” and Vice President of the International Federation for Human Rights, Ales Bialiatski was arrested in August and has now been sentenced to four and a half years' strict-regime imprisonment, confiscation of property and a heavy fine equivalent to more than 50 000 euros.

Belarus is the only country in Europe that has not qualified to join the Council of Europe and its human rights record for the past year has pushed the prospect of membership well into the future, the Commissioner concludes.

Press release