European lawmaker calls for sanctions against Minsk on activist arrest anniversary

July 14, BPN. A vice president of the European Parliament called on the European Union (EU) and the international community to impose sweeping sanctions on Alaksandar Łukašenka’s authoritarian regime on July 14, the second anniversary of the arrest of a Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize winner and his associates.

The lawmaker, Nicola Beer, said in a video that Aleś Bialacki and other Belarusian pro-democracy advocates will not be forgotten, according to the rights group Libereco.

Beer described the conditions in which Belarusian political prisoners are being held as unacceptable. She called on authorities to give them access to proper healthcare and their families and lawyers.

Aleś Bialacki, founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center, and his fellow activists were convicted of financing protests in Belarus and smuggling cash for their human rights work.

Four months ago, a court in Minsk sentenced Bialacki to 10 years in prison. It also gave nine years to Valancin Stefanovič and seven years to Uładzimir Łabkovič. Źmicier Sałaŭjoŭ, a human rights defender who fled the country, was sentenced to eight years in absentia.

The EU, USA and UN Human Rights Office condemned the trial as unfair.