By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MINSK, Belarus – Following the crackdown after the December 2010 elections in Belarus, reported here, an EU human rights watchdog was recently expelled from Belarus. Additionally, a local human rights organization’s office was raided by police and the director detained, in addition to police raids of several activists’ homes.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has maintained an office in Minsk since 1998 in order to provide assistance to the government in Belarus in developing civil society and the economy. A positive report by the OSCE on the conduct of the election was to be an essential factor in determining whether Belarus will receive EU financial aid. However, the OSCE called the recent elections “flawed” and accused the government of fraud, in addition to criticizing the police crackdown on opposition supporters following the election.
Last week, many believe as a result of the election criticism, the OSCE was asked to leave Belarus. Andrei Savinykh, Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement that “an evaluation of the results achieved by the OSCE mission in Minsk shows that the mission has fulfilled its mandate.”
This contention, however, has been strongly denied. The chairman of the OSCE, Audronius Azubalis, responded by saying, “[i]ts mandate has not been completed,” and “[t]here is an important job for the O.S.C.E. to continue in Belarus.”
On Wednesday, police raided the office of the Belarus Helsinki Committee, which is according to the Associated Press “an independent group whose name refers to the principles of the 1975 Helsinki Accords that were the precursor of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.” The police seized computers from the Helsinki Committee office and detained the director, Oleg Gulak.
The Belarussian police on Thursday conducted raids on the homes of several political activists. They seized computers, phones, cameras, memory cards, and printed material such as organization member lists.
These events are all part of a continuing crackdown that followed election day, when almost 700 opposition supporters were arrested following mass demonstrations which were broken up by a violent police shutdown. Most of the people arrested faced 5 to 15 days in jail, followed by firing from their work or expulsion from school. The opposition presidential candidates that have been charged face up to 15 years in jail.
This comes after many within European circles had hoped the election in Belarus would be conducted in concert with EU ideas of freedom and democracy, and had been prepared to reward such actions. As Reuters phrased it, “Brussels had dangled the prospect of financial aid if the election demonstrated at least a veneer of democracy.”
A closer Belarussian relationship with the EU seems unlikely now. As Guido Westerwelle, German Foreign Minister, said in a statement, “[t]he decision to shut down the OSCE office is a further setback for the rule of law and human rights in Belarus. With its authoritarian course, the government in Minsk is leading the country further away from European freedom values.”
For more information, please see:
RADIO FREE EUROPE – Activists In Belarus Fear School Expulsions, Firings – 7 Jan. 2011
NAVINY – New KGB raids over post-election protest – 6 Jan. 2011
NEW YORK TIMES – Belarus: Police Raid Rights Group Office – 5 Jan. 2011
AP – Belarusian human rights group reports police raid – 5 Jan. 2011
NEW YORK TIMES – Belarus Ejects European Watchdog Agency – 1 Jan. 2011
REUTERS – Belarus throws out EU watchdog after election – 1 Jan. 2011
BBC – Belarus closes down OSCE office after poll criticism – 31 Dec. 2010
