Die brutale Unterdrückung von Demonstrationen und die Festnahme zahlreicher Oppositioneller nach den so genannten Präsidentschaftswahlen in Belarus am 19. Dezember 2010 haben die angebliche „Liberalisierung des Systems Lukaschenko“ als reines Täuschungsmanöver entlarvt. Die Wahlen waren weder von ihren Voraussetzungen noch von ihrem Verlauf her frei und fair. Sie dienten dem alleinigen Zweck des Machterhalts von Präsident Lukaschenko. Durch seine Reaktion auf die Nachwahl-Proteste hat er sehr deutlich gemacht, dass er jederzeit bereit ist, auch zu anderen Mitteln zu greifen.
Die Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung schließt sich den Forderungen nach unverzüglicher Freilassung aller Gefangenen an. Wir setzen uns ein für die Stärkung demokratischer Kräfte und die Annäherung von Belarus an die Europäische Union. Die Gesellschaft von Belarus wird vom autoritären System Lukaschenkos schon längst nicht mehr repräsentiert.
Folgenden Erklärungen schließen wir uns inhaltlich an:
- Deutsch-Russischer Austausch
- International Society Memorial
- Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum
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Erklärungen:
DRA protestiert gegen Gewalt in Belarus – Europäische Politik muss auf Aufklärung und Ahndung bestehen
Der DRA protestiert entschieden gegen die menschenverachtende Niederschlagung der Opposition in Belarus nach den undemokratischen Präsidentschaftswahlen unter Amtsinhaber Alexander Lukaschenka. Die Brutalität und Unverfrorenheit seines Regimes hat in diesen Tagen erneut ein Ausmaß erreicht, das auch Experten kaum vorhergesehen haben: Nach der Wahl wurden die Demonstranten niedergeknüppelt, die meisten Gegenkandidaten Lukaschenkas und rund 600 ihrer Unterstützer festgenommen, Menschenrechtsorganisationen und unabhängige Medien überfallen, einige prominente Oppositionsvertreter sind sogar verschwunden. Der DRA erwartet, dass alle politischen Akteure in Europa, darunter die deutsche Bundesregierung und besonders das Auswärtige Amt, von der Führung in Minsk konsequent die Freilassung der Inhaftierten sowie die Aufklärung des Aufenthalts der Verschwundenen und deren Rehabilitierung einfordern. Rechtsverletzungen müssen geahndet und die Täter auch international verfolgt werden.
Belarus und seine Bewohner dürfen nicht als Spielball Lukaschenkas oder irgendwelcher Balancestrategien Russlands und der EU missachtet werden. Stattdessen müssen die europäischen Regierungen eine ständige, breite, aktive und unterstützende Zusammenarbeit mit den verschiedenen politischen Strömungen und der Zivilgesellschaft in Belarus aufbauen. Die belarussische Gesellschaft macht dafür vielfältige Angebote. Dafür stehen nicht nur die zahlreichen Gegenkandidaten zu Lukaschenka, die Demonstranten, die unabhängigen Medien, Wahlbeobachter und Bürgerrechtsorganisationen, wie BelaPAN.com, Charter97, Viasna und das Helsinki-Komitee. In Belarus ist ein Prozess der Emanzipation der BürgerInnen im Gang – und die Gewalt nach der Wahl war die entblößende Abwehrschlacht eines Diktators, der so selbstgefällig wie hilflos eine zerrinnende Allmacht zu behaupten sucht und damit seine Illegitimität bekräftigt hat.
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On the Situation in Belorussia
Statement by the International Society Memorial
The reason of the events in Minsk on December 19-20 is obvious: election in Belarus lost its content and sense.
The main point of the election does not amount to technical procedures of putting the ballots to ballot boxes or counting of votes although these procedures were also made by Belorussian authorities the tools of falsification.
The main point of the election is to ensure fair competition of different political and economical programs of different political powers. This is a process for which at least freedom of association, free mass media and equal access of the associations and candidates to the mass media are necessary. There is nothing like that in Belarus.
Acting authorities in Belarus providing themselves irremovability has been annihilating space of political competition sequentially for many years. Not leaving possibility to express opinion for people, the authorities oblige them to go to the streets and squares. The responsibility for the events of December 19-20 lies on Belorussian authorities that had turned the election into farce.
We demand immediate release of all political opponents of Belorussian authorities including those detained during protest rallies and demonstrations of recent days.
The Board of the International Society Memorial
December 21, 2010
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Statement of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum
Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum calls for full access to detainees to be accorded to EU representation in Minsk, for release of prisoners, and an independent, international inquiry into police actions during and after Belarus presidential election
On the evening of 19 December 2010, the hopes of greater respect for human rights and the principles of an open, tolerant democracy emerging in Belarus were shattered by militia and special forces brutality towards ordinary citizens, opposition presidential candidates, human rights defenders, and Belarusian and international media representatives.
The Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum calls upon the Belarusian authorities to provide full access to the EU representation in Minsk and to Belarusian and international human rights organisations to detainees in prison and those with injuries in hospitals, and for the swift release of prisoners – several opposition presidential candidates and also human rights defenders and civil society activists detained on 19 December 2010, the date of the presidential elections in Belarus, and the next day December 20, 2010.
In addition, the Civil Society Forum Steering Committee calls for the organisation by the EU of an independent inquiry into police actions during and after the Belarus presidential election which, according to the OSCE, "failed to give Belarus the new start it needed. The counting process lacked transparency. The people of Belarus deserved better.”
In the joint declaration of the Prague Eastern Partnership summit, signed on 7 May 2009 by the EU and six neighbouring countries, including the government of the Republic of Belarus, the participants agreed that “the Eastern Partnership will be based on commitments to the principles of international law and to fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law and the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as to, market economy, sustainable development and good governance”.
On the evening of 19 December 2010, the Belarusian authorities acted in clear contravention of these principles. Belarusian riot police beat and detained hundreds of persons, including three presidential candidates, the Chairman of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and coordinator of the “Human Rights Defenders for Free Election” election monitoring campaign as well as many other civil society activists. During the night, the office of Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, co-participant of the campaign, was raided by the KGB and ten staff members of the centre were detained. Some Belarusian citizens were also arrested in other cities while heading to the Minsk.
The 2010 presidential elections failed to meet international standards for democratic elections, including equitable access to the media for all candidates, the unfair use of state resources to support the incumbent, and the almost total lack of independent or opposition representatives on the Electoral Commission.
This clear infringement of the rights to peaceful association and freedom of speech comes barely 10 days after UN Human Rights day, on the occasion of which EU High Representative Catherine Aston reaffirmed that respect for human rights lies at the core of EU values, and pronounced that “the EU calls upon all governments to ensure that laws and practices do not prevent legitimate and peaceful human rights work in line with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders”.
The Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum was elected at the meeting of more than 200 representatives of civil society who met in Berlin on 18-19 November 2010. The Civil Society Forum was established by the European Commission in 2009 "to promote contacts among CSOs and facilitate their dialogue with public authorities".
Plans by Civil Society Forum participants for 2011-2012 include a comparative report monitoring the observation of human rights in all six Eastern Partnership countries.
We call the European Union to examine the issue of appropriate sanctions that should cover all those who were responsible for the acts of violence against the peaceful demonstration in Minsk on December 19, 2010.
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Weiterführende Links:
- Interview mit Marieluise Beck in der taz vom 20. Dezember
- Eurobelarus.info
- spring96.org
- Erklärung der "Coalition for a European Continent Undivided by Visa Barriers" (PDF)
- Erklärung der belarussischen Plattform des "Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forums" (engl / PDF)
- Belarus: Klare Anweisungen für eine gemeinsame EU-Außenpolitik
- Entschließung des Europäischen Parlaments zur Lage in Belarus