Belarusian representative kicked out of PACE session

A scandal broke put in Strasbourg with the participation of a representative of Belarus.  

The representative of Belarusian authorities had to leave the session of the political committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in Strasbourg where the Belarusian issue was being discussed, because he didn’t receive a special invitation.

The information about the scandal was announced on 4 October at a briefing in the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BelaPAN reports.

An ITAR reporter asked the MFA’s press-secretary Andrei Savinykh to comment on the decisions taken by the session of the PACE’s political committee concerning Belarus as well as the scandal with the Belarusian representative being kicked out the assembly room.

Savinykh responded that the MFA’s position regarding this issue will be introduced later.

A special PACE’s resolution on Belarus will be prepared before January 2013. The Estonian parliament member, the special reporter on Belarus, Andres Herkel said on 4 October.

“The work on the document will start already in November”, - Herkel pointed out. – It’s totally possible that in the January of the next year the report will be ready”.

According to him, the Assembly will first of all have to give a political assessment of the parliamentary elections in Belarus.

“Our latest report dates back to the beginning of 2012. We regret that the situation with human rights and democracy has only worsened ever since”.

“Today there are twelve political prisoners in Belarus, - the reporter stated. The health condition of some of them causes particular concern”.

The head of Belarusian Helsinki Committee Aleg Gulak and the deputy head of the human rights center Viasna Valiantsin Stefanovich took part in the PACE’s session which was open for media.

We would remind that PACE assessed the parliamentary elections as not corresponding to the international democratic standards. It is worth mentioning that Belarus is not a member of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).