Andrei Sannikov: I'll continue to call for sanctions because they work

A hardline policy towards the dictator and visa-free travels to the EU for ordinary Belarusians are needed.
Former Belarusian presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov said during an international conference in Vilnius on Tuesday that he would call for sanctions against the Belarusian government because "believe me, they work." 

"Lukashenka understands only the language of sanctions," Mr. Sannikov, a former political prisoner who was granted political asylum in Britain in 2012, said during the conference, which focuses on possible strategies for the EU's engagement with Belarus. "It is necessary to take a tough line on the dictator and his regime while involving the Belarusian public in a dialogue." 

Mr. Sannikov called on the European Union to abolish the visa requirement for Belarusians. This measure would do much more to increase pro-European sentiments in Belarus than any statements, he said. 


According to Mr. Sannikov, Europe failed to use its "window of opportunity" following the 2010 presidential election in Minsk. "The opposition was winning the election and I was the leading candidate," he said. "It's unclear why Europe didn't ask tough questions about the legitimacy of Lukashenka." 


Mr. Sannikov warned against "playing liberalization" with Belarusian authorities. "The situation in Belarus deteriorates after each such attempt," he said. "If Europe is ready to assume responsibility, indeed, personal responsibility, for further repression and murders in Belarus, let it continue its policy of engaging the regime in a dialogue." 


Yury Hubarevich, deputy chairman of the Movement for Freedom, said that in recent years, Mr. Lukashenka had been balancing between the EU and Russia, using a "pendulum policy" to good effect. "However, he is running out of room for maneuver," he said. "The Eurasian Economic Union Agreement may be signed in two years, which would be the point of no return for us." 
Mr. Hubarevich said that Europe's policy of rewarding "positive steps" by Belarus with preferences was not working. "Lukashenka's policy regarding the EU and Russia is very simple—get as much money as possible without making any decisions that may affect the stability of his government," he said. 

Mr. Hubarevich said that Europe should try to influence Mr. Lukashenka through the Belarusian public. "Lukashenka is forced to take public opinion into account," he said. "On several occasions, he backed down in the face of public indignation." For example, he had to order the reduction of motor fuel prices after their drastic increase and then withdrew his own proposal to impose a $100 exit duty on Belarusians traveling abroad for shopping, he said. 

Polls indicate that about 40 percent of the Belarusians are in favor of rapprochement with Europe, Mr. Hubarevich said, adding that Europe should use this lever to influence the regime. 

Anatol Lyabedzka, chairman of the United Civic Party, said that the EU should push for the release and exoneration of all political prisoners in Belarus and also demand that the government hold free and fair elections. If the government releases the political prisoners without exonerating them, the root cause of politically motivated persecution will remain, and new political prisoners will eventually appear, Mr. Lyabedzka said.

Kilde :  http://charter97.org/en/news/2013/10/29/78690/

Belarusians must prepare for car tax

A car tax will include taxes on ecology, parking lots and space.
Experts proposed to impose a car tax in Belarus in the article “Take Post”.
“People should understand that a car is a hazardous instrument both for space and ecology. People must pay for it,” Armen Sardarov, the dean of the Architectural Faculty of Belarusian National Technical University, said during a discussion of parking lots with Savetskaya Belorussia newspaper. “I think a car tax must include taxes on ecology, parking lots and the public space occupied by a vehicle.”
“It is a matter of health for every resident. Those who have met the situation when car owners warm up their cars every morning in the yard understand it. You cannot breathe there. But you cannot explain anything to car owners. They know just one thing: they park their cars here, so they will warm them up here, not in another place,” Armen Sardarov explained his proposal to impose an additional tax.
We remind that the municipal authorities put forward an initiative of imposing a car tax in 2009.
“We need a car tax in Minsk,” then chairman of the Minsk city executive committee Mikalai Ladutska said. “There are about 500,000 cars in the city. Car owners spend an average of 200,000 rubles a month on fuel, or 1 or 2 million a year. Let's collect at least 60,000-70,000 rubles from every car owner and we'll get 30 or 40 million annually.”
Mikalai Ladutska proposed yesterday to encourage Minsk residents to pay for parking lots construction.

Kilde :  http://charter97.org/en/news/2013/10/29/78664/

Mylène Farmer signs petition against the death penalty in Belarus

Three days before her arrival in Minsk Mylène Farmer signed a petition of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus."
The well-known French singer did not remain indifferent to a letter from the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights Center "Viasna", in which human rights activists told her about the nature of the problem of the death penalty in Belarus - the last country in Europe, where people are still deprived of life on behalf of the state.
"There can be no higher goal, more holy, more worthy than this one: abolish the death penalty," Mylène Farmer quoted these lines when signing the petition. They belong to the French writer Victor Hugo, who in the preface to the novel "The Last Day of a Condemned Man" (1829) expresses his feelings that the death penalty should be abolished, wondering why one person has the right to take the life of another and claiming that his role is "the role of patron for all possible defendants, either guilty or innocent, before all the courts and the tribunals, before all the jurors, before all the arbiters of justice."
The petition calls on the Belarusian authorities to abolish the death penalty in the country: "Today, when all the countries of Europe and the former Soviet Union have abolished the death penalty, it is time for Belarus to join the civilized space of humanism, a space free from murder by the state."
Activists of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus", launched in 2009, suggest signing the petition to the world-famous individuals – to emphasize the importance of the problem and to attract the attention of people all over the world to the death penalty as a problem that knows no national boundaries. In 2010, the petition was signed by the famous British musician Sting, who also recorded a video message entitled "Time to Change", and in 2012 the campaign was supported by the Swedish singer Loreen, the winner of "Eurovision-2012".

Kilde :  http://charter97.org/en/news/2013/10/24/78339/

Diktaturer bør ikke belønnes

En av de største skamplettene den avtroppende regjeringen etterlater seg, er en nesten ferdigforhandlet frihandelsavtale med Hviterussland, Europas siste diktatur.

Den nye regjeringen må få stanset dette prosjektet i siste liten.
Nylig startet den siste forhandlingsrunden mellom EFTA-landene Island, Liechtenstein, Sveits og Norge og tollunionen mellom Russland, Kasakhstan og Hviterussland om å inngå en avtale om frihandel. Forhandlingene gjennom hele året har gått såpass bra at Norge antagelig vil kunne inngå en frihandelsavtale med Hviterussland allerede i 2014. Norge står i spissen for forhandlingene. Grunn nok til å være fornøyd, vil sikkert noen mene. Flinke norske forhandlere, liksom.
Hadde det bare ikke vært for at det skjer omfattende menneskerettighetsbrudd i Hviterussland: storstilt overvåking av befolkningen, vilkårlig fengsling og tortur. Den politiske opposisjonen og sivilsamfunnet er under massivt press, og mediene kontrolleres i stor grad av staten. "I Hviterussland blir sivilsamfunnet kneblet av et undertrykkende regime som ikke tolererer noen form for kritikk", konkluderte Amnesty International i en rapport tidligere i år. Men hverken dokumenterte overgrep eller gjentatte runder med kritikk fra blant annet Venstre som stilte spørsmål om saken på Stortinget, ser ut til å ha gjort inntrykk på statsminister Jens Stoltenberg og nærings- og handelsminister Trond Giske.

Å inngå en frihandelsavtale med Hviterussland betyr å gi direkte støtte til Lukasjenkos brutale og illegitime regime. Mer enn 80 prosent av den økonomiske aktiviteten i Hviterussland eies og styres av staten. Avtalen vil også svekke de sivile og opposisjonelle kreftene i landet som arbeider for å fremme demokrati. Av nettopp denne grunnen har EU avvist å diskutere en slik avtale og dessuten innført en rekke økonomiske sanksjoner mot Hviterussland. Sanksjoner som Norge i 2012 sluttet seg til, forresten. Og så skal vi gå og undergrave dette ved å drive frihandel med landet i stedet? Hvordan kunne Norge synke så dypt i et så prinsipielt spørsmål?

De rødgrønne er blitt drevet av ønsket om økt handel med Russland. At menneskerettighetssituasjonen også i Russland er blitt forverret de siste årene, har jo aldri vært noe problem for regjeringen Stoltenberg. Forholdet til den store naboen i øst har vært ansett som svært viktig, ikke minst for norske olje- og gassinteresser. En frihandelsavtale skulle krone det strategiske partnerskapet, selv om Hviterussland følger med som nissen på lasset. Hensyn til menneskerettigheter, demokrati og politisk anstand måtte vike til fordel for økonomisk gevinst.
Regjeringsskiftet gir oss nå anledning til å stanse de videre forhandlingene umiddelbart – selv om disse befinner seg i den siste runden. Et nei til frihandel med Hviterussland vil sende et kraftig signal om at Norge etter Stoltenberg-regjeringen ikke ønsker å belønne avskyelige regimer gjennom handelsavtaler og at profitten ikke alltid slår knockout på etikken.

Rebekka Borsch, sentralstyremedlem i Venstre

Kilde :  http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Diktaturer-bor-ikke-belonnes-7337154.html
Foto : http://www.arche.by/by/page/print/2960
          http://www.svaboda.org/content/transcript/24703300.html