[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 132 (Monday, July 27, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4508-S4509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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   SENATE RESOLUTION 658--CALLING FOR A FREE, FAIR, AND TRANSPARENT 
   PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN BELARUS TAKING PLACE ON AUGUST 9, 2020, 
  INCLUDING THE UNIMPEDED PARTICIPATION OF ALL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

  Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Rubio, and Mrs. Shaheen) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 658

       Whereas long-term president Alyaksandr Lukashenko has ruled 
     Belarus as an undemocratic dictatorship since the first 
     presidential election in Belarus in 1994 and is running for a 
     sixth term in office;
       Whereas the presidential elections in Belarus have been 
     neither free nor fair and have been rejected by the 
     international community as not meeting minimal electoral 
     standards;
       Whereas Belarus abolished presidential term limits in a 
     referendum in 2004, and Lukashenko affirmed in November 2019 
     that he plans to run again in 2025;
       Whereas, in the most recent 2010 and 2015 presidential 
     elections, Lukashenko arbitrarily disqualified or jailed key 
     opponents ahead of and after the elections;
       Whereas, in March 2011, the United States Senate 
     unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Belarusian 
     elections as illegitimate and calling on the Belarusian 
     regime to immediately release all political prisoners;
       Whereas, according to the Department of State 2019 Country 
     Report on Human Rights Practices for Belarus, Lukashenko has 
     consolidated his rule over all institutions since his first 
     term as president and undermined the rule of law through 
     authoritarian means, including manipulated elections and 
     arbitrary decrees, such that all subsequent presidential 
     elections fell well short of international standards;
       Whereas the law of Belarus provides citizens the ability to 
     choose their government in free and fair periodic elections 
     held by secret ballot and based on universal and equal 
     suffrage, but the Government of Belarus has consistently 
     denied citizens that ability;
       Whereas flawed referendums in 1996 and 2004 amended the 
     Constitution of Belarus to broaden the powers of Lukashenko, 
     extend his term in office, and remove presidential term 
     limits;
       Whereas appearances by opposition politicians on state 
     media have historically been limited and such restrictions 
     have been strongly criticized by the Office for Democratic 
     Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for 
     Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR), which has 
     not recognized any elections in Belarus as free and fair 
     since 1995;
       Whereas authorities in Belarus routinely impede the 
     activities and legal status of opposition political parties 
     by refusing to register them, while allowing approximately 6 
     largely inactive but officially registered pro-Lukashenko 
     political parties to operate freely;
       Whereas the Central Election Commission of Belarus (CVK) 
     disqualified the majority of potential candidates from the 
     upcoming August 9, 2020, presidential election for 
     politically motivated purposes;
       Whereas, on June 30, 2020, the Central Election Commission 
     barred Valery Tsepkalo, a

[[Page S4509]]

     former Ambassador to the United States and First Deputy 
     Minister of Foreign Affairs and one of the major challengers 
     to Lukashenko, from running in the presidential election;
       Whereas, on May 6, 2020, popular blogger Syarhey 
     Tsikhanouski was arrested and jailed for 15 days prior to a 
     rally he had planned for May 9, 2020, to challenge the 
     decision by Lukashenko to hold a Victory Day military parade 
     despite the coronavirus pandemic;
       Whereas, between May 6 and June 16, 2020, courts in Belarus 
     convicted 97 individuals as part of a new wave of political 
     persecution for ``illegal protesting'' and sentenced those 
     individuals to various terms of detention for a total of 
     1,246 days, while 105 individuals were fined a total of 
     90,000 rubles, approximately 40,000 United States dollars;
       Whereas, on May 15, 2020, the Central Election Commission 
     rejected the registration documents submitted by Tsikhanouski 
     for his candidacy for the presidential election;
       Whereas, on May 19, 2020, the Central Election Commission 
     rejected the candidacy of opposition politician Mikalay 
     Statkevich, who previously challenged Lukashenko in 2010 and 
     was incarcerated for 4 years and 8 months for protesting the 
     disputed election, allegedly on the basis of his ``criminal 
     record'';
       Whereas Statkevich was subsequently sentenced on June 1, 
     2020, to 15 days in jail for taking part in an 
     ``unauthorized'' opposition event in Minsk to collect 
     signatures for his candidacy, was sentenced to another 15 
     days on June 15, 2020, and still remains incarcerated as of 
     July 27, 2020;
       Whereas, on May 22, 2020, Human Rights Watch reported that 
     between May 6 and 13, 2020, authorities in Belarus 
     ``arbitrarily arrested over 120 peaceful protesters, 
     opposition bloggers, journalists, and other critics of the 
     government in 17 cities,'' including Youth Block movement 
     activists concerned about human rights and rule of law in 
     Belarus, which ``is particularly disturbing in light of the 
     COVID-19 pandemic'';
       Whereas, on May 29, 2020, Tsikhanouski was arrested again 
     in Hrodna while collecting signatures for the presidential 
     candidacy of his spouse, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is 
     running in his stead, and Tsikhanouski was subsequently 
     charged with ``the organization and preparation of actions 
     that severely violated public order'';
       Whereas, on May 31, 2020, Belarusian human rights group 
     Viasna (Spring) reported that 50 opposition activists were 
     arrested by police while they were gathering signatures to 
     allow opponents to participate in the presidential election;
       Whereas, on June 8, 2020, Paval Sevyarynets, co-chairman of 
     the opposition Belarusian Christian Democratic Party, was 
     sentenced to 15 days in jail for supporting independent 
     presidential candidates in rallies in Minsk on June 7, 2020, 
     and subsequently, on July 8, 2020, was sentenced to a fifth 
     consecutive 15-day jail term;
       Whereas, on June 18, 2020, authorities arrested potential 
     presidential challenger Viktar Babaryka and his son, Eduard, 
     who heads his presidential campaign;
       Whereas, on June 19, 2020, the European Union issued a 
     statement calling on the Government of Belarus to immediately 
     release Babaryka and his son and called for an impartial 
     investigation into the arrests;
       Whereas, according to the Belarusian Association of 
     Journalists, on June 19, 2020, police officers detained at 
     least 14 journalists, including Radio Free Europe/Radio 
     Liberty (RFE/RL) reporter Alyaksandra Dynko and cameraperson 
     Andrey Rabchyk, who were covering protests against the 
     efforts of Lukashenko to undermine the electoral process;
       Whereas, on June 19, 2020, the United States Embassy in 
     Minsk urged the Government of Belarus to ``uphold its 
     international commitments to respect fundamental freedoms'';
       Whereas, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 
     over 3 days starting on June 25, 2020, authorities arrested 
     several bloggers, including Ihor Losik, Serhei Petrukhin, 
     Aleksandr Kabanau, Volodimir Neronski, Aleksandr Andreyev, 
     Volodimir Tsiganovich, and Serhei Sparish, a move Amnesty 
     International said represents ``a full-scale purge of 
     dissenting voices'';
       Whereas, on June 24, 2020, Representative Alcee L. 
     Hastings, Chairman of the Commission on Security and 
     Cooperation in Europe (commonly known as the ``Helsinki 
     Commission''), released a statement noting that Belarusian 
     authorities have made it impossible to hold free and fair 
     elections by ``arresting and intimidating presidential 
     candidates, journalists, and activists in the early stages of 
     campaigning,'' and moreover, that ``[t]here can be no free 
     choice when the system is rigged in favor of the incumbent,'' 
     and called upon Lukashenko to ``order the release of those 
     who have been detained for political reasons and allow real 
     political competition in Belarus'';
       Whereas, on June 29, 2020, Amnesty International issued a 
     statement condemning that ``[t]here is no safe environment 
     for political debate in Belarus, and there is a growing 
     crackdown on human rights in the context of the forthcoming 
     election,'' and moreover, ``[o]pposition candidates along 
     with their supporters are smeared, targeted and incarcerated 
     under trumped-up charges, with women particularly targeted'';
       Whereas, on July 3, 2020, in a statement commemorating the 
     Independence Day of Belarus, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo 
     urged the ``government of Belarus to do everything in its 
     power to ensure the upcoming elections are free and fair,'' 
     including ``the right of a diverse range of candidates to 
     participate in the campaign, the right of citizens to 
     assemble peacefully and speak freely, and open and fair 
     ballot counting'';
       Whereas, on July 14, 2020, the Central Election Commission 
     ultimately approved only 5 candidates to run in the 
     presidential election, namely, Lukashenko, Andrey Dzmitryyeu, 
     Hanna Kanapatskaya, Syarhey Cherachan, and Tsikhanouskaya;
       Whereas, on July 14, 2020, during protests over the 
     unjustified disqualification of several presidential 
     candidates, authorities used unnecessary and excessive force 
     to detain at least 220 individuals across the country;
       Whereas, on July 14, 2020, authorities detained at least 17 
     journalists covering protests in Minsk, Brest, and Homel, 
     including Katsiaryna Andreeva (and Ihar Ilyash when he sought 
     her release) with Poland-registered broadcaster Belsat TV, 
     Danil Palyanski with independent news website Pershiy Region, 
     Artsiom Liava with independent news website Novy Chas, 
     Aliaksei Sudnikau and Usevalad Zarubin with independent news 
     website Tut.by, blogger Anatoly Chilik, Andy Smythe with BBC, 
     Mikhail Ilyin and Artsiom Mayorau with Polish broadcaster 
     Euroradio, and Ales Piletski and Andrey Rabchyk with RFE/RL;
       Whereas, on July 15, 2020, at least 2,000 people lined up 
     to file complaints with the Central Election Commission for 
     denying the candidacy registrations of Babaryka and Tsapkalo, 
     and authorities detained another 16 people, including RFE/RL 
     correspondent Anton Trofimovich and BelaPAN correspondent 
     Violeta Savchyts;
       Whereas, on July 15, 2020, Amnesty International issued a 
     statement in response to the arrest of protesters in Minsk on 
     July 14, 2020, stating that ``[a]nyone detained simply for 
     peacefully protesting in Minsk, or other cities, is a 
     prisoner of conscience, and must be immediately and 
     unconditionally released''; and
       Whereas, on July 22, 2020, the Central Election Commission 
     announced it will severely limit the number of observers 
     during early voting and on election day: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns the politically motived arrest and 
     imprisonment of opposition candidates in Belarus, including 
     Syarhey Tsikhanouski, Viktar Babaryka, and Mikalay 
     Statkevich, and calls for their immediate release and ability 
     to compete in the August 9, 2020, presidential election in 
     Belarus;
       (2) condemns the arbitrary disqualification by the Central 
     Election Commission of Belarus of the majority of the 
     potential candidates for the August 9, 2020, presidential 
     election;
       (3) condemns the crackdown on and arbitrary arrests of 
     peaceful protesters, opposition party members, human rights 
     activists, and independent media by authorities in Belarus;
       (4) stands in solidarity with the people of Belarus, 
     including human rights defenders, bloggers, and journalists, 
     who are exercising their right to freedom of assembly, 
     freedom of expression, and rule of law; and
       (5) calls on Belarus to hold free, fair, and inclusive 
     presidential elections on August 9, 2020, that meet 
     international standards and include credible international 
     election monitoring.

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