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Rights defender skeptical about release of political prisoners

 

Political prisoners are unlikely to be released soon, human rights defender Valyantsin Stefanovich told BelaPAN.

“I have even less optimism now than I did this past spring,” he said. “So far I see no positive trends, no real steps by the Belarusian authorities toward dialogue with the European Union.”

He noted that the EU had made steps to meet Belarus halfway and “looked for positive things where this is none.”

The deputy chairman of a human rights group called Vyasna referred to the original version of this year’s report by Justas Paleckis, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Belarus, which noted improvements in the human rights situation. Mr. Paleckis made the conclusions after studying statistics provided by Vyasna. “We have never made conclusions about significant improvements in the sphere of human rights. Of course, the number of violations may have fallen, but this is linked to a drop in political activity after the events of December 19, 2010,” said Mr. Stefanovich.

The activist said that the government continued its persecution of political opponents. “Political prisoners are still held behind bars. The situation has further deteriorated as a number of criminal cases have been opened, including under the Criminal Code’s article that penalizes acting on behalf of an unregistered organization,” he said.

Mr. Stefanovich recalled the recent conviction of Andrey Haydukow, leader of the Union of Young Intellectuals, and the criminal proceedings instituted against pardoned post-election protesters Vasil Parfyankow and Uladzimir Yaromenak. //BelaPAN