[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1714-1715]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          ELECTIONS IN BELARUS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 3 years ago, the country of Belarus held a 
presidential election that marked--instead of finally joining the rest 
of democratic Europe--a brutal crackdown on freedom of expression and 
basic democratic principles. There was a glimmer of hope that perhaps 
this would finally be an opportunity for the Belarusian people to 
freely choose their own president in an honest and open election. No 
longer would the Belarusian people have to endure under the ``Last 
Dictator of Europe,'' strongman Alexander Lukashenko.
  Tragically, those hopes were quickly dashed when Lukashenko simply 
claimed another term as president amid elections described by 
international monitors as seriously flawed.
  On election night, December 19, 2010, hundreds of Belarusian citizens 
were beaten and arrested by KGB henchman--that is right, Belarus still 
has a KGB security service--for having the nerve to run in the election 
or peaceably demonstrate for an honest accounting of the election 
results. It was the worst crackdown in decades--although certainly not 
the first under Lukashenko's iron first in which he uses a combination 
of repression, intimidation, and torture to cling to power.
  I have come to the Senate floor a number of times during the past 3 
years to talk about the tragic events in Belarus, where the Lukashenko 
regime has imprisoned and mistreated numerous political and human 
rights activists. Let me add with great irony and sadness--that Russia 
is presently trying to strongarm our friends in Ukraine to join a 
Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan trade bloc instead of letting it sign an 
association agreement

[[Page 1715]]

with the European Union. Sign up with the last dictatorship of Europe 
or the European Union--not much of a choice if you ask me.
  I have been glad to see that with a push from the international 
community, some of Belarus's political prisoners have been released, 
including most of the 2010 presidential candidates who had the temerity 
to run for office.
  Some of you may have seen an op-ed in the Washington Post last month, 
written by one such presidential candidate from the 2010 election in 
Belarus, Andrei Sannikov. Mr. Sannikov was sentenced to 5 years in jail 
for having the nerve to run against Lukashenko. At his trial, Sannikov 
said prison guards threatened to harm his wife and small son in an 
effort to secure a confession. Lukashenko's henchmen even threatened to 
take custody of his son, who was then 3 years old. Yet, he has not 
stopped working for a democratic Belarus. In his December 27 op-ed, he 
argues,

       . . . it is important to remember that Ukraine's northern 
     neighbor Belarus, [is] a country that lies geographically in 
     the heart of Europe but politically is more akin to a Soviet 
     backwater. The majority of its citizens want to be free, but 
     they are repressed by a brutal dictator. It is not a question 
     of if but when Belarusians will rid themselves of Europe's 
     last dictatorship and join the community of European 
     democracies.

  He reminds us that there is still work to be done.
  Take for example, president candidate Mikalai Statkevich. Statkevich, 
who was sentenced to six years in a medium-security prison following 
the 2010 election, remains in jail. He can barely receive medical 
assistance or meet with his family or lawyers. He is constantly 
harassed and pushed to sign bogus confessions for crimes he never 
committed.
  Or for example, Ales Byalyatski, a prominent human rights activist 
still in jail. He is Vice-Chairman of the International Federation for 
Human Rights and President of the Human Rights Center Viasna, an 
organization that offers financial and legal assistance to political 
prisoners and their families. I don't think Ales or his wife, Natalia, 
who has visited with my office, ever thought their family would be 
among the ones they typically helped.
  Moreover, the Lukashenko government targeted not only various 
political and human rights activists after the December 2010 election 
and protests, but it did so even before anything had happened, 
arresting for example, Eduard Lobau who had been a member of the youth 
democracy movement. Lobau was arrested and assaulted for peaceably 
protesting in the days leading up to the election.
  Considering what they have fought for and what they have been 
through, it is no wonder that Statkevich, Belyatsky, and Lobau had been 
short-listed for the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament, as well 
as receiving a wide variety of international attention. While the 
Sakharov prize ultimately went to Malala Yousafzai, a worthy recipient, 
we cannot forget these three men and the others who rot in Belarusian 
KGB jails on dubious and trumped up charges. Their families, too, are 
continuously denied basic legal rights.
  In 2012, I joined with my colleagues in the Senate to introduce 
Senate Resolution 105, which passed unanimously, condemning the sham 
elections and calling on the Belarusian regime to release all political 
prisoners. The resolution also called for new elections in Belarus that 
meet international standards, supported the tightening of sanctions 
against the Belarusian state oil and petrochemical company, and urged 
the International Ice Hockey Federation to suspend the 2014 Ice Hockey 
Championship in Minsk until all Belarusian political prisoners are 
released.
  Sadly, our calls have gone unheeded by the International Ice Hockey 
Federation, which still plans to hold its 2014 championship in Minsk 
while political prisoners languish in KGB prisons. I simply cannot 
understand how the International Ice Hockey Federation can give hockey-
loving strongman Lukashenko such a propaganda hook amid his country's 
human rights travesty.
  I visited Belarus just weeks following the sham elections. I met with 
the family members of many of these jailed activists. The stories of 
missing or harassed loved ones, including children, were heartbreaking.
  But the perseverance we have seen from civil society groups and human 
rights defenders in Belarus has been deeply inspiring. Despite 
intimidation and threat, these activists continue to fight for their 
freedoms. They did so through parliamentary elections during September 
2012, also decried by international observers, and they do so through 
the many anniversaries of the election and ensuing protests. And they 
persevered most recently, when Lukashenko signed a law that requires 
future parliamentary elections to be held in single rounds and bans any 
calls to boycott elections.
  I can only hope their efforts come to fruition in 2015 when Belarus 
is slated to host its next presidential election.
  Until then, I will continue to stand in the Senate to call on 
Lukashenko to release the remaining political prisoners and stand with 
the people of Belarus in their quest for democracy and justice.

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