Whereas the people of Belarus have lived under the brutal
dictatorship of Alexander Lukashenko for almost 2 decades;
Whereas, under Mr. Lukashenko’s rule, Belarus—which is
known as the last dictatorship of Europe
—has defied the
post-Soviet democratic transformation that swept eastern and central Europe by
maintaining an abhorrent human and political rights record and denying its
citizens fundamental freedoms;
Whereas, according to the United States Department of
State 2009 Human Rights Country Report on Belarus, elections in Belarus are
consistently unfair and undemocratic; politically motivated arrests and
detentions are ongoing; Belarus’ judiciary is not independent; beatings, poor
treatment, and disease are widespread in prisons in Belarus, where detainees
lack access to food, proper clothing, and medical treatment; and the Government
of Belarus has severely and systematically restricted basic freedoms of press,
speech, assembly, association, and religion;
Whereas Mr. Lukashenko had an opportunity to move Belarus
closer to the community of democracies by holding free and fair presidential
elections on December 19, 2010, and allowing for multiple opposition candidates
to run for president;
Whereas the Lukashenko regime squandered this opportunity
for the people of Belarus by orchestrating a fraudulent election that failed to
meet minimal international standards;
Whereas, following the elections, the Lukashenko regime
arrested 5 of the 6 opposition presidential candidates, severely beating one
candidate, Uladzimir Niakliayeu, and arbitrarily beating many of the thousands
of Belarusians who were peacefully protesting the stolen election in the
largest public demonstration the country had seen in over 5 years;
Whereas, during the course of election day and its
aftermath, Lukashenko’s security forces, the State Security Agency (KGB),
detained or arrested over 600 additional people, including journalists, civil
society representatives, political activists, and ordinary Belarusians who were
peacefully seeking to exercise their fundamental human rights to free assembly
and expression;
Whereas the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe’s Election Observation Mission, which monitored the election in Belarus,
issued a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions on December 20,
2010, that criticized the election’s campaign environment as
characterized by the lack of a level-playing field
and reported
that international observers assessed the vote count as
non-transparent
and bad or very bad in almost half of all
observed polling stations
;
Whereas, according to Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe observers, prominent international websites, including
Gmail and Hotmail, and Belarusian websites including Charter97.org,
euroradio.by, gazetaby.com, and zapraudu.info were rendered inaccessible on
election day;
Whereas, on February 22, 2011, the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe stated in its final report on the December
19, 2010, election that the final vote count was flawed and lacked
transparency
;
Whereas Department of State spokesperson Philip J. Crowley
said on December 20, 2010, We cannot consider the election results as
legitimate.
;
Whereas, on December 20, 2010, the Obama Administration
called for the release of all detained presidential candidates and protestors
arrested around the election and strongly condemned the violence used by the
Lukashenko regime to undermine the democratic process
;
Whereas on December 23, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy Catherine Ashton strongly condemned the Lukashenko regime’s
disproportionate use of violence and called for the immediate release of
the presidential candidates and the over 600 demonstrators who have been taken
into custody in the wake of the presidential elections in
Belarus
;
Whereas the heads of the foreign affairs committees of the
German and Polish parliaments issued a joint statement on December 31, 2010,
stating that the presidential election in Belarus showed a complete lack
of respect for European values and standards
;
Whereas, on January 20, 2011, the European Parliament
adopted a resolution that condemns the December 19, 2010, elections in Belarus
and their violent aftermath; demands the immediate and unconditional release of
political prisoners; and calls for new elections to be held
in
Belarus under free and democratic conditions
and
according to OSCE standards
;
Whereas, on December 31, 2010, the Government of Belarus
refused to extend the mandate of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe office in Minsk, thereby shuttering the democratic institution
building efforts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in
Belarus;
Whereas, on January 4, 2011, Department of State
spokesperson Philip J. Crowley and Darren Ennis, Spokesperson for European
Union High Representative Catherine Ashton, issued a joint statement expressing
regret over the closure of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe Office in Belarus and calling on authorities in Belarus to
fulfill their commitments to the OSCE by reforming the election process and
providing greater respect for human rights
;
Whereas the Belarusian KGB continues to detain at least 32
political opposition leaders and activists associated with the December 19,
2010, elections who face dubious charges that carry prison sentences up to 15
years;
Whereas, on February 28, 2011, Ales Mikhalevich, a
presidential candidate who was arrested following the December 19, 2010,
elections and released on January 19, 2011, issued a statement detailing the
abuse and torture that he endured during his 2-month detention by the
Belarusian KGB, in violation of existing Belarusian laws as well as
international agreements, including the Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, done at New York December
10, 1984, to which Belarus has been a signatory since December 1985;
Whereas families of presidential candidates and political
opposition leaders and their lawyers face continued harassment and intimidation
by Lukashenko’s KGB, including repeated interrogations, raids, pressure, and
threats of dismissal from places of employment and schools;
Whereas the detained presidential candidates and political
opposition leaders are being denied regular access to family, lawyers, medical
treatment, and open legal proceedings;
Whereas authorities in Belarus continue to carry out
searches and seizures across the country, including the offices and homes of
journalists, political activists, civil society representatives, former
presidential candidates and their advisers, and ordinary Belarusians with
tenuous connections to members of the political opposition;
Whereas, according to the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, an internationally reputable source on global arms trade,
the Lukashenko regime delivered a shipment of military equipment to the Qaddafi
regime in Libya in February 2011, just before Qaddafi prepared to initiate the
widely condemned bloody crackdown undertaken against the people of
Libya;
Whereas, on January 31, 2011, the United States and the
European Union imposed targeted travel and financial sanctions on an expanded
list of officials of the Government of Belarus, including Alexander Lukashenko
and those helping prop up his regime;
Whereas, on January 31, 2011, the United States Government
also restricted economic transactions with Lakokraska OAO and Polotsk
Steklovolokno OAO, 2 subsidiaries of Belarus’s largest state-owned petroleum
and chemical conglomerate, Belneftekhim;
Whereas, on February 2, 2011, the United States Government
pledged to supplement its democracy assistance to Belarus by $4,000,000 in
fiscal year 2011;
Whereas, on March 2, 2011, Lukashenko’s regime sentenced 3
of the political detainees, Alyaksandr Atroshchankau, Zmitster Novik, and
Alyaksandr Malchanau, to between 3 and 4 years in a top-security prison;
Whereas on March 4, 2011, Department of State Spokesman
P.J. Crowley said, The United States remains gravely concerned over the
continuing post-election crackdown by the Government of Belarus on civil
society, independent media, and the political opposition. Through its ongoing
detentions, trials, and harsh prison sentences, the government is creating new
political prisoners. We urge the unconditional release of those detained in the
crackdown without trials, and the creation of space for the free expression of
political views, the development of civil society, and the ability of citizens
to expand their contact with open societies.
; and
Whereas Congress passed the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004
(Public Law 108–347) and the Belarus Democracy Reauthorization Act of 2006
(Public Law 109–480) as expressions of support consistent with these aims: Now,
therefore, be it
That the Senate—
(1)condemns the
December 19, 2010, election in Belarus as illegitimate, fraudulent, and not
representative of the will or the aspirations of the voters in Belarus, and
joins the European Parliament in calling for new elections to be held in
Belarus that meet international standards;
(2)condemns the
beating, arrest, fining, and imprisonment of presidential candidates,
opposition leaders, and activists by Alexander Lukashenko’s KGB in the wake of
the December 19, 2010, election;
(3)condemns the
Lukashenko regime’s systematic efforts to prevent freedom of expression and
association in Belarus, including its efforts to censor the Internet and stifle
freedom of the press;
(4)stands in
solidarity with the people of Belarus, those political prisoners being unjustly
detained, and those who continue to fight for peaceful democratic change and
their fundamental human rights in Belarus;
(5)applauds the
pledges of the United States Government and the European Union to impose
targeted sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, on Belarusian
officials and their associates responsible for the recent crackdown and human
rights abuses against the people of Belarus;
(6)applauds the
decisions of the United States Government, the European Union, and other
democratic allies to expand assistance to civil society in Belarus;
(7)calls on the
Lukashenko regime—
(A)to immediately
and unconditionally release all political prisoners in Belarus who were
arrested in association with the December 19, 2010, election, including 3
presidential candidates, Andrei Sannikov, Nikolai Statkevich, and Uladzimir
Nyaklyaeu, who are still in prison or under house arrest;
(B)to immediately
cease the harassment of the families, friends, and lawyers of political
prisoners in Belarus;
(C)to authorize the
extension of the mandate of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe Office in Belarus;
(D)to hold new
presidential and parliamentary elections in Belarus that are free, fair,
inclusive, and meet international standards; and
(E)to meet its
international obligations and cease any illegal efforts related to the
provision of arms to rogue regimes;
(8)urges the
President and the Secretary of State—
(A)to continue to
closely coordinate United States and European Union policies towards
Belarus;
(B)to resume direct
technical and material support to the opposition and civil society in Belarus,
including political parties, civic groups, and independent media
outlets;
(C)to ensure that
the United States list includes any other officials of the Government of
Belarus responsible for the crackdown following the December 19, 2010, election
in Belarus, associated human rights abuses, and the continued detention,
prosecution, and mistreatment of all political prisoners, and to impose
targeted sanctions on those individuals and their family members where
warranted; and
(D)to identify any
other entities that enrich Mr. Lukashenko and his regime at the expense of the
people of Belarus and prohibit business with and freeze the assets of such
entities;
(9)urges the
European Union—
(A)to join the
United States in prohibiting business with, and freezing the assets of, the
Belarusian state-owned oil and petrochemicals company Belneftekhim and its
subsidiaries Lakokraska OAO and Polotsk Steklovolokno OAO, as well as other
entities that enrich Mr. Lukashenko and his regime at the expense of the people
of Belarus;
(B)to cut all
European projects linked to the authorities in Belarus responsible for the
crackdown and associated human rights abuses and to exclude officials of the
Government of Belarus from meetings under the European Union’s Eastern
Partnership policy—including the planned European Union summit with post-Soviet
countries scheduled to take place in Budapest in May 2011—but to ensure that
this suspension not apply to nongovernmental and civil society organizations in
Belarus;
(C)to ensure that
the European Union list includes any other officials of the Government of
Belarus responsible for the crackdown following the December 19, 2010, election
in Belarus, associated human rights abuses, and the continued detention,
prosecution, and mistreatment of political prisoners, and to impose targeted
sanctions on those officials and their family members where warranted;
and
(D)to increase
support to the opposition and civil society in Belarus, including political
parties, civic groups, and independent media outlets;
(10)calls on other
members of the international community, including Russia, to take similar
targeted actions against the leaders of the Government of Belarus;
(11)calls on the
Government of Lithuania, as chair of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe for 2011, to make the reestablishment of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe Office in Belarus one of its chief
priorities for its tenure; and
(12)calls on the
International Ice Hockey Federation to suspend its 2014 International World Ice
Hockey championship to be hosted in Minsk, Belarus until all political
prisoners in Belarus are released.