You can blame foreign puppeteers as much as you like, get carried away with conspiracy theories, prosecute crime victims and switch attention from cause to effect – this does not change reality. Only an open and fair political process will ensure a sustainable solution to the current crisis in Belarus. Head of the EU Delegation to Belarus Dirk Schuebel stated this in an interview to BelaPAN news agency.
Here are some excerpts from the interview.
- The European Union does not take restrictive measures thoughtlessly – they are used purposefully to suppress violations of human rights, to protect democracy and the rule of law...We reject the claims of the state media in Belarus that it is precisely the carefully thought-out restrictive measures of the EU that threaten the economic well-being of Belarusian citizens. Over the past week, we have received numerous reports that the administrations of state enterprises and state institutions in Belarus forced their employees to sign letters stating otherwise.
- All I can say is that coercion of employees with threats of dismissal and other violations of their rights is exactly the behaviour that EU sanctions are intended to suppress. I underline that the EU countries took decisions on the adoption of new packages of sanctions unanimously. We impose sanctions on those who are responsible for the brutal repression of the Belarusian people and the rigging of elections, as well as against some entities that clearly support the Lukashenko regime and benefit from it.
- As for declaring GUBOPiK and OMON terrorist organizations, the current EU instruments do not allow this at the level of the European Union...Nevertheless, I would like to emphasize that last year the European Union imposed sanctions on the heads of OMON units, as well as officers and commanders of other structures (SOBR, police, Alpha Unit, Interior Ministry troops) who were involved in the brutal repression of the protesters. As I said, we strongly condemn violence and support all initiatives to bring perpetrators to justice.
- According to the Council Conclusions on Belarus on 12 October, the EU has revised aid to Belarus to ensure that Belarusian people will benefit from the cooperation and will not involve the transfer of funds to state authorities.
- True, we have officially and unofficially requested access to places of detention and penitentiary institutions amid reports of inhuman or inappropriate treatment of prisoners and detainees. There was no positive response, but we will continue to do our best to release hundreds of Belarusians imprisoned for political reasons and those whose rights to humane treatment and fair trial are violated.