EU parliament demands unconditional release of Belarusian political detainees
BRUSSELS. March 29 (Interfax) - The European Parliament passed a resolution on Belarus in Brussels on Thursday, demanding an immediate and unconditional release of political detainees by the Belarusian authorities.
Unless political detainees are released and their civil rights fully reinstated, and in the absence of any progress on democracy, human rights and the rule of law, the dialogue between the EU and Belarus cannot move forward, the resolution said.
The document names the detainees whose release is demanded in the first place. They are: head of the Vesna human rights center Ales Belyatsky, former presidential candidates Nikolai Statkevich and Andrei Sannikov, opposition candidate election campaign heads Pavel Severinets and Dmitry Bondarenko, and political detainee Sergei Kovalenko, who went on a hunger strike that severely damaged his health.
The resolution condemns the souring of the human rights and fundamental liberties situation in Belarus, as well as the lack of deep democratic and economic reforms there. The European Parliament vows to continue to speak out against Minsk's repressions against the opposition.