Medvedev to receive report about violations of human rights in Belarus

The international observing mission promises to pass such reports to the leaders of the European structures, and also plans to initiate the international police investigation of the events which took place at the Independence Square in Minsk on December 19. 

More than 30 non-governmental organizations of the countries-members of the OSCE declared their concern with regard to the situation with human rights in Belarus and the necessity to control if they are fulfilled. Thus, the Committee for International Control was created on December 27, 2010. The Committee, in its turn, has formed the long-term international observing mission. 

According to the head of the long-term observing mission, the expert of the Council of EuropeAndrej Jurau, the mission's mandate defines two directions of activity: monitoring of human rights violations and all the cases of harassment of human rights activists. 

Besides, even journalists who write about human rights issues and lawyers, who defend the people's rights, are considered equal to human rights activists. As for estimation of the presidential election results and the electoral process, the mission won't do that - the mandate does not allow it. 

There are also no Belarusian human rights activists in the mission, says Jurau.

Andrej Jurau: “This is our principle decision. First, we need to be equally far from all the organization. Secondly, to provide them more safety - cooperation with our Committee may create additional problems to them.Thirdly, we need to reserve an opportunity, if there is such opportunity, to meet with the representatives of the authorities. I will not say anything like "interaction, cooperation" - these are way too strong words.  However, we are ready to meet with them, to listen to them and see their point of view”.

The mission has worked in Belarus for just 7 days, but they have recorded enough facts of human rights violations, says the  member of the Russian President's council for assistance to development of civil society and human rights Siarhej Kryvenka. 

Siarhej Kryvenka: “These are in the first place facts of mass violations of the citizens' rights during arrest and serving the administrative detention. The second thing which we would like to turn attention to is obstacles in legal and professional activity of human rights structures, mass media and lawyers”. 

According to Kryvenka, they have recorded a number of facts when the detainees were not given water and food for a long time, and were deprived from medical help. According to the human rights activist, this could be considered tortures. As for the searches, they were conducted not in the framework of certain criminal or administrative cases, which is also a violation of the legislative norms. 

The  member of the Russian President's council for assistance to development of civil society and human rights will tell the Russian journalists about these and other human rights violations at the press-conference in Moscow tomorrow, and will also convey these facts to the Russian President's authorised commissioner on human rights Uladzimir Lukin. It is likely that these facts will also get to Dmitry Medvedev. 

Siarhej Kryvenka:“Medvedev is the President of the Russian Federation. The decisions taken by him are influenced by many factors, political ones in the first place. I will not make anything up, but our task is to convey the information which we have at our disposal - about the mass violations which I've already mentioned -  to him and different human rights structures. This is not lobbying of a certain decision. This is a usual mission of human rights activists - to convey the information”.Besides, Andrej Jurau did not exclude the possibility that the mission would come up with an initiative to invite specialists for the international police investigation of the events which had taken place at the Independence Square on December 19, to Belarus. 

Andrej Jurau: “The incident at the Square is a very complicated thing. We need a serious international police investigation here. I think such investigation might take place, but not in the framework of our mission”.

However, the monitoring of human rights violations in Belarus conducted by this mission will go not only to the Russian leaders. According to Andrej Jurau, they interact even better with the European structures than with our Eastern neighbour. All the collected materials will be submitted for consideration to the European Commission, to the European Parliament and all the international human rights organizations.