[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 41 (Thursday, March 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1875-S1877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONDEMNING THE ELECTIONS IN BELARUS
Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to
the immediate consideration of S. Res. 105.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 105) to condemn the December 19,
2010, elections in Belarus, and to call for the immediate
release of all political prisoners and for new elections that
meet international standards.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, much of the world's recent attention has
understandably been on the Middle East--and of course this week on the
terrible situation with one of America's closest allies--Japan. I
understand that USAID has sent disaster relief teams to help in the
earthquake and tsunami devastated cities and that the U.S. aircraft
carrier USS Ronald Reagan is off the coast to help with relief
operations.
Events there are truly heartbreaking and we stand in solidarity with
our Japanese friends during this time of continued crisis and
rebuilding.
Amid these major global events I want to make sure we don't lose
sight of the continuing political repression in the last dictatorship
of Europe--Belarus.
You see, despite the transformations that swept through eastern and
central Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus
remains stuck in time under the tyranny of Alexander Lukashenko, who
has ruled the country with an iron fist for most of the last two
decades.
Lukashenko's security forces that help prop up his illegitimate
regime are actually still called the KGB--and they have the same
despicable tactics as the old Soviet KGB.
Under Lukashenko's regime, those who dare to speak up against the
government or attempt to participate in any semblance of democratic
activity find themselves arrested, beaten, or worse.
In December, six of the seven candidates who chose to run against
Lukashenko were arrested on election day when protesting the sham
electoral process. Some were beaten and one, Vladimir Nekliaev, was
even yanked out of a hospital and taken for interrogation by
Lukashenko's KGB henchmen.
Over 600 other protesters were also arrested.
I had the opportunity to visit Belarus some weeks after the election
and meet with the family members of these brave candidates and
activists and I must tell you, it was a very moving experience.
I want to tell you about Milana Mikhalevich a 34-year-old mother of
two, whose husband Ales was a Presidential candidate.
She told me of her harassment by Belarusian officials since her
husband's arrest; how they denied her access to see him or even
exchange letters. Any attorneys brave enough to defend him faced
disbarment or criminal charges.
As she described this Lukashenka nightmare, Milana's 14-month-old
daughter Alena scrambled around her feet--her father held somewhere in
a Lukashenka KGB nightmare.
Just a few weeks ago Ales was finally released from detention. He
promptly issued a statement detailing the abuse and torture that he
endured in his 2-month KGB detention, including being beaten, stripped
naked, and hung by his hands.
He said that following his torture he was forced to sign a document
in which he pledged to cooperate, noting ``after my joints crunched I
did all they wanted.''
Madam President, can anyone believe this kind of barbarism is still
happening in Europe?
At the end of January, following repeated condemnations of the
December election and demands for the release of all political
prisoners, the United States and the European Union imposed targeted
travel and financial sanctions on Lukashenko and his group of enablers.
Tragically, since then, Lukashenko's KGB has continued daily raids on
the homes and offices of those suspected of ties to the democratic
opposition, human rights organizations, or independent media.
Lukashenko has ignored election monitor reports questioning the
credibility of the election and international demands to release all
political prisoners. He has pulled his country even further into
isolation and made it the subject of international scorn.
Following the old Soviet playbook, his government has tried to blame
outside forces and other countries--everyone but Lukashenko himself--
for the shameful political mess he has created.
You may have read his very troubling interview recently in the
Washington Post in which he brazenly claimed ``We told you clearly that
there is no less democracy in Belarus than there is in the United
States'' and that despite the international condemnation and sanctions,
he would order the same arrests and repression on election night all
over again given the chance.
Just last week his government formally sentenced a number of
protesters to terms of between 3-4 years in a high security prison.
Others still face trials and possible 15 year sentences.
That is why last week, Senators Lieberman, McCain, Cardin, Shaheen,
Graham, Kyl, Barrasso, Mark Udall, Kirk, Lautenberg and I submitted a
Senate resolution on Belarus that, among other things:
Condemns the December election as illegitimate and fraudulent and
calls for new elections that are genuinely democratic; calls for the
immediate release of all political prisoners in
[[Page S1876]]
Belarus and an end to the harassment of their families and lawyers; and
urges the U.S. and the EU to expand the list of Belarussian officials
and their families responsible for maintaining Lukashenko's rein of
tyranny to be subject to travel and asset sanctions.
The resolution also 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 are released.
No such distinguished international sport championship should be
awarded to Lukashenko's dictatorship while political prisoners are
rotting away and being tortured in his secret KGB prisons.
Madam President, the people of Belarus only want the same basic
freedoms that so many of us take for granted--and that so many are
protesting for in the Middle East--the freedom to choose one's own
government, to be free from indiscriminate arrest and torture, and to
speak and debate issues freely within a democratic process.
We in the Senate owe the Belarusian people nothing less than to stand
in solidarity with them as they continue their struggle.
Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to,
the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the
table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related
to the resolution be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 105) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 105
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
[[Page S1877]]
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
Resolved, 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.
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