20. Human rights: Belarus
B5-0481, 0491, 0501, 0508, 0516 and 0523/2001
European Parliament resolution on Belarus
The European Parliament,
 having regard to its previous resolutions on the political situation in Belarus,
 having regard to the Councils declaration of 11 June 2001 on the upcoming presidential elections in
Belarus, which are scheduled for 9 September 2001,
 having regard to the meeting between the Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana, and AmbassadorHans-Georg Wieck, Head of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group (AMG) in Belarus on22 May 2001, when the successful work of the AMG was emphasised and there was a call for sus-tained and continued efforts towards improving dialogue with the Belarus authorities, other politicalforces and civil society in Belarus,
 having regard to the activities and reports of the Parliamentary Troika on Belarus of the European
Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the OSCE ParliamentaryAssembly,
 having regard to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Belarus, which was signed in
March 1995, but could not enter into force, because of the lack of basic democratic structures inBelarus,
A. recalling that the European Parliament and the other parliamentary institutions had to conclude that
the October 2000 parliamentary elections could not be considered as free and fair because insufficientprogress had been made by the Belarus authorities on the criteria regarding transparency of the elec-toral process, the registration of candidates, access to the media, meaningful powers for the newlyelected Parliament and the observance of a peace period in relations with the opposition,
B. recalling that the Parliamentary Troika for Belarus has formulated similar criteria with regard to the
presidential elections,
C. noting that serious discussions are still taking place between representatives of the three institutions of
the Parliamentary Troika, regarding the preparations for the presidential elections and the possibilityof carrying out an observer mission on that occasion,
D. noting the important role being carried out by the OSCEs AMG in Belarus, in particular with regard
to creating the necessary conditions for the process of democratisation in Belarus and the establish-ment of a system for democratic monitoring of the presidential elections by local observers, andsupporting this work and the availability of financial aid provided by the EU for the training of local
election observers,
E. noting that opposition politicians continue to be denied access to the State-controlled press and elec-
tronic media,
F. deeply concerned about the ongoing cases of media harassment in Belarus, leading to the cancellation
of the visit by Freimut Duve, the OSCE Representative for Freedom of the Media, scheduled for25 April 2001,
G. stressing the need to continue the talks held by the European institutions and the OSCE AMG with
Belarus authorities on improving the framework conditions for the forthcoming presidential elections,
H. emphasising once again that the European Union, via the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement
with Belarus, has sought to strengthen its relations with Belarus and to give its full support to thenecessary process of economic and democratic reform in that country,14.3.2002 EN C 65 E/373 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 5 July 2001
I. considering the case of the contested trial of Professor Bandazhevsky as symptomatic of the problems
and deficiencies in the normalisation of the political and judicial spheres, as well as social and healthissues in Belarus,
J. considering that numerous violations of the Penal Code were noted during the investigation into this
case, as well as during the trial,
1. Calls on the President and the Government of Belarus to create the necessary conditions for free and
democratic elections for the presidency of the country;
2. Stresses that the following criteria must be fulfilled if the presidential elections are to be recognised as
free and democratic:
 full transparency of the electoral process in all its aspects, in particular as regards the process of
registering candidates, the composition of the electoral commissions and the counting of the votes,
 equal conditions for all candidates in particular as regards access to the mass media, especially elec-
tronic media, and other possibilities for organising their election campaign,
 all State and Government bodies to refrain completely from any act that may be considered as har-
assment of candidates, their relatives or their supporters,
 the guarantee that all those engaged in (especially non-candidate related) presidential election observ-
ation and the recruitment and training for these activities will be completely free to carry out theirwork, also in cooperation with international institutions, which constitutes an essential element in thetransparency and verifiability of the electoral process;
3. Calls upon the Belarus authorities to stop hindering the activities of the OSCE AMG aimed at streng-
thening of the democratic process in the country;
4. Calls on the Belarus authorities to restore international standards in the fields of human rights and
freedom of the press and of speech, as laid down by the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, as well as the Paris Charter for a new Europe, to which Belarus is a signatory, and which is alsothe basis for the Partnership Agreement between Belarus and the EU;
5. Calls on the Parliamentary Troika for Belarus to put forward a coordinated and united proposal
regarding the observation of the presidential elections in Belarus;
6. Expresses its growing concern about the persistent obstruction of the investigations into the dis-
appearance of political opponents and the continuing imprisonment of citizens without any chargesbeing brought;
7. Calls on the Russian Government and President Putin to support, within the political union between
Russia and Belarus, a democratic multi-party system and pluralistic development in Belarus;
8. Calls on President Loukachenko to ensure that the cases of disappeared persons are cleared up as
soon as possible, to investigate the allegations made by the public prosecutors concerning the case ofMr Zavadsky that official representatives of the State are implicated in these cases, and to create an atmos-phere within the country in which persons who express criticism no longer have to fear for their lives andthose of their families;
9. Welcomes the commitment of the Polish authorities to preventing the emergence of a Brussels-
curtain along its eastern borders, upon accession to the EU, by planning for easily available, multi-entryand low-cost visas, through the establishment of a dense network of consulates in Belarus, Ukraine andRussia;
10. Calls for the preparation of an action programme for Belarus, based on those already benefiting the
former Republics of Eastern Europe, taking into account the unique environmental situation of this repub-lic;
11. Calls on President Loukachenko to grant a presidential pardon to Professor Bandazhevsky and to
reconsider the Belarus governments policy of returning evacuated people to the polluted territories;demands that aid be granted by the EU for Professor Bandazhevsky to continue his work;
12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of
Belarus, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.C 65 E/374 EN 14.3.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 5 July 2001