PACE delegation finally met with oppositional youth
- 18.02.2009, 22:37
Delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe met Belarusian youth leaders on February 18.
The meeting was held on February 18 in the evening. The head of the delegation Göran Lindblad and PACE delegates Sonia Sirtori-Milner and Sinikka Hurskainen met with the leader of “Jeans for Freedom” campaign, an activist of the “European Belarus” Yauhen Afnagel and leaders of the “Young Front” Anastasiya Palazhanka and Valer Matskevich.
The young oppositionists told the PACE deputies that Lukashenka’s; regime has recently intensified crackdown on the opposition considerably, having chosen the youth as the main target for that.
“We have informed about all the facts of crackdown over the last 4 months, about disband of rallies on February 14 and 16, beating of peaceful protesters, searches in the apartments of oppositionists, forcible and illegal drafts of young activists to the army, confiscation of office equipment, printed materials; facts of detention for distribution of newspapers, leaflets, stickers and European symbols. Members of the PACE delegation were particularly shocked that the Belarusian police destroy flags of the European Union seized from oppositionists, and in general, that people are arrested for European symbols,” Yauhen Afnagel to the Charter’97 press-centre.
The leader of “Jeans for Freedom” campaign gave the PACE deputies a monitoring of human rights violations in Belarus.
“We have informed that the concept of repressions in Belarus has changed, but repressions haven’t reduced. There are political prisoners in the country still, and their number is growing. They include participants of the Process of Fourteen, convicted for peaceful protest rallies, and recently arrested leaders of entrepreneurs Mikalay Autukhovich, Yury Lyavonau and Uladzimir Asipenka; as well as “Young Front” activist Artsyom Dubski, rearrested in the Process of Fourteen,” stated the youth leader.
Deputies of the PACE in their turn were interested in the attitude of the youth leaders to a possible return of the special guest status in the PACE to the Belarusian “chamber of representatives”.
“We said we are totally against that, stressing that essentially we stand for the dialogue between Belarus and Europe, but it shouldn’t be a monologue of dictator Lukashenka. We think that real actions on democratization of the country should be demanded of the Belarusian regime, and hollow promises shouldn’t be believed,” the oppositionist is convinced.