Uladzimir Labkovich: Sanctions must not be lifted while political prisoners remain in the country

Even partial lifting of the sanctions can only worsen the situation with human rights in Belarus, the lawyer is sure.

This is how the member of the Council of the human rights center Viasna Uladzimir Labkovich commented for the charter97.org web-site on the EU’s lifting sanctions from two Belarusian enterprises and a former deputy editor-in-chief of the Soviet Belorussia newspaper.

“I consider the decision mistaken. The visa ban list and other restrictive measures, taken by the European Union in regards to the Belarusian regime because of rough repressions against political opponents and rigged elections, must not be lifted while there are political prisoners in the country”, - the human rights activist emphasized.

The lawyer is convinced that the list must remain unchanged and must show the West’s principled position at least on that issue.

“Any revision of the European Union’s sanction list shows Europe’s weakness to the Lukashenka regime. Belarusian authorities may look for weaknesses and try to achieve improvements for them in this direction. And this fairly symbolic step may only worsen the situation with human rights in Belarus”, - Uladzimir Labkovich is convinced.

We would remind that it became known today about the cancellation of European sanctions against two Belarusian companies – Akvadiv and Sport-Pari – and a former deputy editor-in-chief of the Soviet Belorussia newspaper Hanna Shadryna. The Council of the EU’s decision as of 29 May 2013 provides for the cancellation of the sanctions.

One of the owners of the “Malinaushchyznenski distillery plant Akvadiv” is Lukashenka’s wallet Uladzimir Pefcieu. The company got under EU’s restrictive measures on 23 March last year.

One of the co-founders of the closed corporation Sport-Pari is Lukashenka’s sports club, headed by his son Dzmitry. The sanctions against this company were introduced on 20 June 2011.