Belarusian Issue May Be Raised At June PACE Session :: Charter'97 :: News

Lithuanian deputy in the PACE Vatslav Stankevich predicts that the deportation from Belarus of the OSCE mission’s representative Andrew Carpenter will provoke consideration of the “Belarusian issue” at the June PACE session. Moreover, according to the parliamentarian, the problem will also be raised during the scheduled June visit to Belarus by the PACE delegation. Stankevich hopes that the delegation’s members will uphold the initiative on setting up the PACE working group, which would examine the situation around the scandalous disappearances in Belarus.

Andrew Carpenter’s banishment, along with the visa problems, faced by some of the Minsk OSCE members is a step by which the Belarusian authorities responded to the Europe’s proposed step-by-step strategy, said chair of the Lithuanian Sojm on NATO relations Vatslav Stankevich. In his view, “there’s regrettably no improvement in the relations and this unfriendly step by Minsk seriously damages the relations between Belarus and the European structures”.

17 parliamentarians from PACE will embark on a trip to Minsk on June 10-12. These will be mostly representatives of the Political Committee and the Committee for human rights and legal affairs. They will examine the situation with Belarus’ non-fulfillment of the four OSCE conditions on the spot. The Europeans will also arrange their meetings with the “national assembly” deputies, Foreign Ministry, opposition politicians, mass media and families of the missing Belarusian oppositionists.

During their visit opposition will initiate the formation of a special PACE Commission, which would investigate into the loud disappearances in Belarus. Vatslav Stankevich deems that the MPs must welcome this initiative. The creation of the working group on the disappearances, as well as the future relations with Belarus will be a matter of debates during the June 24-28 PACE session in Strasbourg. It is there that the official Minsk may finally realize that its chances on reinstating the status with the PACE are miserable.