2003 press releases

OSCE Permanent Council: EU Statement on Belarus (October 30, 2003)

The EU has frequently expressed its concern at the continued repression of Civil Society and free media in Belarus, in violation of its OSCE commitments, and we do so again today.

The European Union expressed great concern that the Human Rights Centre Vyasna had been accused by the Ministry of Justice of Belarus of various charges, and that the Ministry of Justice had filed a suit to the Supreme Court of Belarus to revoke the NGO's licence. We urged the Belarusian authorities to stop this case and to allow Vyasna to continue its highly valuable work.

It is therefore with regret that we have received reports confirming that the Supreme Court of Belarus yesterday ordered Vyasna's licence to be revoked. The Supreme Court upheld the Justice Ministry's claim that Vyasna had violated both the Electoral Code provisions on observation during the 2001 presidential election, but the other charges were dropped.

We deeply regret that Belarus has chosen to ignore the pleas of the international community in this case and others relating to civil society and free media in recent months.

Once again, we call on Belarus in the strongest possible terms to reverse the restrictive measures taken against Civil Society. We urge Belarus to review its unduly restrictive legislation regarding Civil Society, NGOs and Free Media and to bring it into line with OSCE commitments.

The Acceding Countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia and the Associated Countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey align themselves with this statement.

Web site at:

http://www.ueitalia2003.it/EN/LaPresidenzaInforma/Documenti/20031030_020bielo.htm.