BPR Council calls on extending EU and US blacklist

The Presidium of the Council of the Belarusian People's Republic appealed to a number of countries urging to extend the list of Belarusian officials subject to sanctions.

The appeal was posted on the the BPR Presidium's account on Facebook on October 18, BelaPAN reports.

The appeal was adopted because “the current authorities of the Republic of Belarus continue to keep political prisoners behind bars; there was no rehabilitation on politically motivated convictions; free elections were not held; disappearances of Lukashenka's political opponents were not investigated; society still lives in an atmosphere of fear of political repression; none of the demands of Belarusian democratic society was implemented and the reasons for imposing the EU restrictive measures against the Belarsuian authorities are still relevant.”

The BPR Council appeals to the governments of the EU member states, the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Turkey and Egypt urging to ban entry for KGB officers and officers of other security services, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, courts and prosecution agencies of the Republic of Belarus and members of their family.

“The BPR Council regards the above mentions institutions as the repressive machinery used against activists of democratic opposition. The BPR Rada proposes that the ban should be effective until the last Belarusian political prisoner is released and all criminal and administrative cases opened against people for their political position are closed,” the document says.

The BPR Council calls on “those standing for the aim of restoring the democratic order and justice to take a consolidated position to support the comprehensive measures for the sake of the soonest termination of repression, restoration of justice and dismantling the repressive machinery.”

The BPR Council also calls on the EU Council to resume restrictive measures “to the full extent disregarding the special exclusions made during the year”.