Council of the EU: all Belarusian political prisoners must be released
A session of the Council of the EU took place on April 25 in Luxembourg. A short discussion was dedicated to the Belarusian issue.
The members of the Council welcome release
of ex-presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau and his ally Zmitser Bandarenka.
However, the European Union insists that all political prisoners must be
released. According to the calculations of human rights defenders, there are 13
political prisoners in the country at the moment. The EU's sanctions against
Belarus will be abolished only after their release.
Legal acts on
standard exception from the EU's sanctions regime were approved at the session
in Luxembourg. The regime prescribes freezing the assets of Belarusian legal
entities, diplomatic missions and representations of international
organizations.
