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OSCE PA member: Belarus is long way from democracy

Belarus has a long way to go to ensure that citizens have access to the democratic process, Tony Lloyd, who headed the OSCE’s short-term observation mission in the country`s recent presidential election, said a meeting held by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Activities in Vienna on Thursday.

“We see across the board a politicization of the judicial process,” Mr. Lloyd said, referring to the jailing of hundreds of people following the December 19 post-election protest in Minsk.

The Committee held the discussion on Belarus on the sidelines of the OSCE PA’s winter session that opened in Vienna earlier in the day.

According to the OSCE PA`s press office, Mr. Lloyd presented the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)’s final report on Belarus` election. There was a lack of independence and impartiality of the election administration, an uneven playing field and a restrictive media environment, as well as a lack of transparency at key stages of the electoral process, the ODIHR concluded in the paper.

Speaking at the meeting, Viktar Huminski, deputy chairperson of the House of Representative, called on the Committee to evaluate "separately" the election process and the post-election developments. He criticized the mass demonstration in Minsk as illegal, noting that police exercised “maximum restraint.”

Opposition politician Alyaksandr Kazulin, who ran in the 2006 presidential election and was sentenced to prison for post-election protests, also addressed the gathering.

“There was merely the expression of public will that was crushed brutally,” Mr. Kazulin said, speaking of the December 19 demonstration.

He recommended that the OSCE establish an independent commission of police experts to investigate the crackdown on protesters.

The Committee also heard a report by Uta Zapf, chair of the OSCE PA’s Ad Hoc Working Group on Belarus, who emphasized the need for a dialogue between Belarus’ government officials, national legislature and civil society to put the country on a path to national reconciliation and democratic progress.

“Human rights must remain at the forefront of OSCE priorities,” said Committee Chair Walburga Habsburg Douglas. “I am glad that our committee today was able to highlight these issues in Belarus and the wider OSCE region.”

Belarus` move to close the OSCE Office was also on the agenda of the Committee’s discussion. Participants described the decision as regrettable.