Martin Uggla: Sweden must respond to new violations in Belarus

Head of the Swedish human rights organization Östgruppen writes in his blog about human rights violations in Belarus.

A human rights activist recalls the recent words of the head of the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, that support of Belarusian democratic movement will continue, despite the closure of the Swedish Embassy in Minsk, reports "Radio Liberty".

According to Martin Uggla, now the minister has every reason to continue this activity, because recent events in Belarus expect immediate attention at both the Stockholm and Brussels.

It is a large-scale fraud of the authorities and election commissions in preparation for the "parliamentary elections" in promotion of  "deputies", loyal to the regime, and the persecution of opposition candidates and independent local observers.

Martin Uggla also notes the critical situation of political prisoners in Belarus. They were sentenced to long terms as a result of trials that were clearly politically motivated - more than a dozen of it. These people are under tremendous pressure in jail, which, in some cases is considered as torture, says Uggla at the informational and analytical resource www.newsmill.se. For those who refuse to write a petition for clemency, they find various formal reasons to keep them in punishment cells, and, as in the case of political prisoner Dmitry Dashkevich, to extend a prison term.

The third point, which should be assessed by Stockholm and Brussels - the persecution of young Internet activists, in particular - the recent detentions of leaders of opposition groups in social networks. Two of them have recently been sentenced to short terms of imprisonment; the third was beaten and also threatened with jail. The obvious purpose of this action - to counter the growing importance of social media in distribution of criticism of the regime and in mobilization of opposition.

The Swedish human rights activist said that after the expulsion of ambassador Stefan Eriksson from Belarus Lukashenka apparently was expecting that the criticism of the EU member states will stop. If Lukashenka receives such a gift, it can have devastating consequences for Belarus. Sweden and the EU must condemn the recent events in Belarus. One should also consider the new restrictive measures against persons, responsible for the repressions.