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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 515 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.515

                      One Hundred Twelfth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America

                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
            the fifth day of January, two thousand and eleven

                                 An Act

 
            To reauthorize the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Belarus Democracy and Human Rights 
Act of 2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; STATEMENT OF POLICY.
    Sections 2 and 3 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 
109-480; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    ``Congress finds the following:
        ``(1) The Government of Belarus has engaged in a pattern of 
    clear and uncorrected violations of human rights and fundamental 
    freedoms.
        ``(2) The Government of Belarus has engaged in a pattern of 
    clear and uncorrected violations of basic principles of democratic 
    governance, including through a series of fundamentally flawed 
    presidential and parliamentary elections undermining the legitimacy 
    of executive and legislative authority in that country.
        ``(3) The Government of Belarus has subjected thousands of pro-
    democratic political activists to harassment, beatings, and 
    jailings, particularly as a result of their attempts to peacefully 
    exercise their right to freedom of assembly and association.
        ``(4) The Government of Belarus has attempted to maintain a 
    monopoly over the country's information space, targeting 
    independent media, including independent journalists, for 
    systematic reprisals and elimination, while suppressing the right 
    to freedom of speech and expression of those dissenting from the 
    dictatorship of Aleksandr Lukashenka, and adopted laws restricting 
    the media, including the Internet, in a manner inconsistent with 
    international human rights agreements.
        ``(5) The Government of Belarus continues a systematic campaign 
    of harassment, repression, and closure of nongovernmental 
    organizations, including independent trade unions and 
    entrepreneurs, and this crackdown has created a climate of fear 
    that inhibits the development of civil society and social 
    solidarity.
        ``(6) The Government of Belarus has subjected leaders and 
    members of select ethnic and religious minorities to harassment, 
    including the imposition of heavy fines and denying permission to 
    meet for religious services, sometimes by selective enforcement of 
    the 2002 Belarus religion law.
        ``(7) The Government of Belarus has attempted to silence 
    dissent by persecuting human rights and pro-democracy activists 
    with threats, firings, expulsions, beatings and other forms of 
    intimidation, and restrictions on freedom of movement and 
    prohibition of international travel.
        ``(8) The dictator of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenka, 
    established himself in power by orchestrating an illegal and 
    unconstitutional referendum that enabled him to impose a new 
    constitution, abolishing the duly elected parliament, the 13th 
    Supreme Soviet, installing a largely powerless National Assembly, 
    extending his term in office, and removing applicable term limits.
        ``(9) The Government of Belarus has failed to make a convincing 
    effort to solve the cases of disappeared opposition figures Yuri 
    Zakharenka, Viktor Gonchar, and Anatoly Krasovsky and journalist 
    Dmitry Zavadsky, even though credible allegations and evidence 
    links top officials of the Government to these disappearance.
        ``(10) The Government of Belarus has restricted freedom of 
    expression on the Internet by requiring Internet Service Providers 
    to maintain data on Internet users and the sites they view and to 
    provide such data to officials upon request, and by creating a 
    government body with the authority to require Internet Service 
    Providers to block Web sites.
        ``(11) On December 19, 2010, the Government of Belarus 
    conducted a presidential election that failed to meet the standards 
    of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 
    for democratic elections.
        ``(12) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election the 
    Government of Belarus responded to opposition protests by beating 
    scores of protestors and detaining more than 600 peaceful 
    protestors.
        ``(13) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election the 
    Government of Belarus jailed seven of the nine opposition 
    presidential candidates and abused the process of criminal 
    prosecution to persecute them.
        ``(14) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election, the 
    Government of Belarus disrupted independent broadcast and Internet 
    media, and engaged in repressive actions against independent 
    journalists.
        ``(15) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election, 
    Belarusian security services and police conducted raids targeting 
    civil society groups, individual pro-democracy activists, and 
    independent media.
        ``(16) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election, 
    Belarusian officials refused to extend the mandate of the OSCE 
    Office in Minsk.
        ``(17) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election, 
    opposition candidates and activists have been persecuted and 
    detainees have been physically mistreated, and denied access to 
    family, defense counsel, medical treatment, and open legal 
    proceedings.
        ``(18) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election, 
    lawyers representing those facing criminal charges related to the 
    post-election protest have been subjected to the revocation of 
    licenses, disbarment, and other forms of pressure.
        ``(19) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election, the 
    Government of Belarus has convicted political detainees to harsh 
    prison sentences.
        ``(20) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election, the 
    United States expanded its visa ban list, imposed additional 
    financial sanctions on certain state-owned enterprises, and 
    initiated preparations to freeze the assets of several individuals 
    in Belarus. The European Union imposed targeted travel and 
    financial sanctions on an expanded list of officials of the 
    Government of Belarus.
        ``(21) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election, the 
    United States fully restored sanctions against Belarus's largest 
    state-owned petroleum and chemical conglomerate and all of its 
    subsidiaries.
        ``(22) After the December 19, 2010, presidential election, the 
    United States has engaged in assistance efforts to provide legal 
    and humanitarian assistance to those facing repression and 
    preserving access to independent information, and has pledged 
    resources to support human rights advocates, trade unions, youth 
    and environmental groups, business associations, think-tanks, 
    democratic political parties and movements, independent 
    journalists, newspapers and electronic media operating both inside 
    Belarus and broadcasting from its neighbors, and to support access 
    of Belarusian students to independent higher education and expand 
    exchange programs for business and civil society leaders.
        ``(23) The Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, 
    and other executive branch agencies have heretofore made effective 
    use of this Act to promote the purposes of this Act, as stated in 
    section 3 of this Act.
``SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
    ``It is the policy of the United States to--
        ``(1) condemn the conduct of the December 19, 2010, 
    presidential election and crackdown on opposition candidates, 
    political leaders, and activists, civil society representatives, 
    and journalists;
        ``(2) continue to call for the immediate release without 
    preconditions of all political prisoners in Belarus, including all 
    those individuals detained in connection with the December 19, 
    2010, presidential election;
        ``(3) continue to support the aspirations of the people of 
    Belarus for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law;
        ``(4) continue to support the aspirations of the people of 
    Belarus to preserve the independence and sovereignty of their 
    country;
        ``(5) continue to support the growth of democratic movements 
    and institutions in Belarus, which empower the people of Belarus to 
    end tyranny in their country;
        ``(6) continue to refuse to accept the results of the 
    fundamentally flawed December 19, 2010, presidential election held 
    in Belarus, and to support calls for new presidential and 
    parliamentary elections, conducted in a manner that is free and 
    fair according to OSCE standards;
        ``(7) continue to call for the fulfillment by the Belarusian 
    government of Belarus's freely undertaken obligations as an OSCE 
    participating state;
        ``(8) continue to call for a full accounting of the 
    disappearances of opposition leaders and journalists in Belarus, 
    including Victor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky, Yuri Zakharenka, and 
    Dmitry Zavadsky, and the prosecution of those individuals who are 
    in any way responsible for the disappearance of those opposition 
    leaders and journalists;
        ``(9) continue to work closely with the European Union and 
    other countries and international organizations, to promote the 
    conditions necessary for the integration of Belarus into the 
    European family of democracies;
        ``(10) call on the International Ice Hockey Federation to 
    suspend its plan to hold the 2014 International World Ice Hockey 
    championship in Minsk until the Government of Belarus releases all 
    political prisoners; and
        ``(11) remain open to reevaluating United States policy toward 
    Belarus as warranted by demonstrable progress made by the 
    Government of Belarus consistent with the aims of this Act as 
    stated in this section.''.
SEC. 3. RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING TO BELARUS.
    Section 5 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109-480; 
22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 5. RADIO, TELEVISION, AND INTERNET BROADCASTING TO BELARUS.
    ``It is the sense of Congress that the President should support 
radio, television, and Internet broadcasting to the people of Belarus 
in languages spoken in Belarus, by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the 
Voice of America, European Radio for Belarus, and Belsat.''.
SEC. 4. SANCTIONS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF BELARUS.
    Section 6 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109-480; 
22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended--
        (1) in subsection (b)--
            (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``or expression, 
        including those individuals jailed based on political beliefs 
        or expression in connection with repression that attended the 
        presidential election of December 19, 2010'' before the period 
        at the end;
            (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``, including 
        politically motivated legal charges made in connection with 
        repression that attended the presidential election of December 
        19, 2010'' before the period at the end;
            (C) in paragraph (5), by inserting ``and violations of 
        human rights, including violations of human rights committed in 
        connection with the presidential election of December 19, 
        2010'' before the period at the end; and
            (D) in paragraph (7), by striking ``internationally 
        recognized observers'' and inserting ``OSCE observers'';
        (2) in subsection (c)--
            (A) in paragraph (2)--
                (i) by striking ``subparagraph (A)'' and inserting 
            ``paragraph (1)''; and
                (ii) by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting a semicolon; and
            (C) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
        ``(4) is a member of any branch of the security or law 
    enforcement services of Belarus and has participated in the violent 
    crackdown on opposition leaders, journalists, and peaceful 
    protestors that occurred in connection with the presidential 
    election of December 19, 2010; or
        ``(5) is a member of any branch of the security or law 
    enforcement services of Belarus and has participated in the 
    persecution or harassment of religious groups, human rights 
    defenders, democratic opposition groups, or independent media or 
    journalists.'';
        (3) in subsection (e), by striking ``of each international 
    financial institution to which'' and inserting ``at each 
    international financial institution of which''; and
        (4) in subsection (f)(2)(B)(ii), by striking ``(as defined in 
    section 40102 of title 49, United States Code)''.
SEC. 5. REPORT.
    Section 8(a) of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109-
480; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended--
        (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ``this 
    Act'' and inserting ``the Belarus Democracy and Human Rights Act of 
    2011'';
        (2) in paragraph (1), by striking ``sale or delivery of weapons 
    or weapons-related technologies'' and inserting ``sale or delivery 
    or provision of weapons or weapons-related technologies or weapons-
    related training'';
        (3) in paragraph (2), by striking ``involved in the sale'' and 
    inserting ``or weapons-related training involved in the sale or 
    delivery or provision'';
        (4) in paragraph (3), by inserting ``or weapons-related 
    training described in paragraph (1)'' before the period at the end; 
    and
        (5) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
        ``(5) The cooperation of the Government of Belarus with any 
    foreign government or organization for purposes related to the 
    censorship or surveillance of the Internet, or the purchase or 
    receipt by the Government of Belarus of any technology or training 
    from any foreign government or organization for purposes related to 
    the censorship or surveillance of the Internet.''.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
    Section 9 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109-480; 
22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended--
        (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``Committee on International 
    Relations'' and inserting ``Committee on Foreign Affairs''; and
        (2) in paragraph (3)--
            (A) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking ``and prosecutors'' 
        and inserting ``, prosecutors, and heads of professional 
        associations and educational institutions''; and
            (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``Lukashenka regime'' 
        and inserting ``Government of Belarus''.
SEC. 7. FUNDING FOR REPORT.
     The requirement to prepare and transmit the report required under 
section 8 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109-480; 22 
U.S.C. 5811 note), as amended by section 5 of this Act, shall be 
performed within current levels of authorized and appropriated funding.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.
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