MEPs consider Ales Bialiatski’s case
The delegation of the International Federation for Human Rights took part in the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee meeting to discuss the situation in Belarus held in Brussels on 12 January.
A judge of Minsk’s Savetski District Court upheld Tuesday a lawsuit filed by an employee of Mazyr Oil Refinery against opposition politician Viktar Ivashkevich for his campaign for the European Union’s ban on Belarusian petroleum products.
The Prosecutor General's Office has threatened Dzmitry Uss (Vus), an opposition candidate in Belarus' 2010 presidential election, with criminal prosecution if he continues to call on the European Union to impose economic sanctions against Belarus, BelaPAN said.
The European Union's foreign ministers agreed at their meeting on Monday to broaden the criteria for imposing "restrictive measures" on Belarusian persons and entities in response to human rights abuse and the persecution of the government's political opponents.
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) may recommend the Committee of Ministers to introduce restrictive measures against Minsk after the example of the European Union, Andres Herkel, PACE rapporteur for Belarus, said in an interview with BelaPAN in Strasbourg on Monday, BelaPAN said.