Hearing of situation in Belarus in the US Congress
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15:48, — Politics
The special hearing titled “Belarus: from Dictatorship to Democracy” took place in the US Congress on the initiative of Helsinki Commission.
Delegation from Belarus took part in the hearing. The delegation included Alyaksandr Milinkevich, leader of the “For Freedom” movement; Anatol Lyabedzka, head of the United Civic Party; youth leader Paval Sevyarynets; Syargey Kalyakin, leader of the Belarusian Party of Communists; Anatol Lyaukovich, deputy head of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Gramada); Zmitser Fedaruk, one of the Young Front leaders; and former political prisoner Enira Branitskaya. As the head of the delegation Alyaksandr Milinkevich said to the Charter’97 press center, the hearing of the situation in Belarus aroused much interest in the Congress – the hall was full with people and the event took much more than scheduled two hours.
“The interest in the situation in Belarus is profound. There were many senators, congressmen, diplomats, members of non-governmental organisations. All members of the Belarusian delegation had an opportunity to speak. We spoke about the necessity of democratic reforms in Belarus, release of political prisoners, freedom of speech, Belarus’s relation with the European Union and Russia. I concentrated on the situation with political prisoners. I spoke about prisoners of conscience and noted that release of political prisoners should be the first condition during contacts with Belarusian authorities,” Alyaksandr Milinkevich said in the interview to the Charter’97 press center.
According to the leader of the “For Freedom” movement, congressman Alcee L. Hastings, chairman of the US Helsinki Commission, remarked in his speech that Belarusian people deserve better life. In the congressman’s opinion, being geographically situated in the center of Europe, Belarus is standing behind the civilised world because of total violation of human rights. Alcee Hastings said he had struggled for the rights of African Americans in his time and he represents their interests in the US Congress today. “The congressman ended his speech with the words: things change. Belarus will surely meet changes. Persistence, truth and belief always win,” Alyaksandr Milinkevich said.
It should be reminded that Belarusian democrats had a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She noted that the USA would continue to speak out for the cause of freedom in Belarus.
The Belarusian delegation also met with heads of International Republican Institute, Marshall Fund and The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and with Germany’s Ambassador to the USA Klaus Scharioth.
The Belarusian delegation is holding a press conference in the Radio Svaboda office today. The democrats have already met with editor-in-chief of the Washington Post, which will publish the interview with Belarusian politicians soon.
The visit of Belarusian delegation is going on.
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