Global Security Forum opens with discussion about Belarus

The Global Security Forum GLOBSEC 2011 opened in Bratislava with discussing the situation in Belarus.

The first forum session “Belarus after the elections: will sanctions work?” was devoted to Belarus. First head of the independent Belarus Stanislau Shushkevich, former presidential candidate and political prisoner Aliaksandr Kazulin, chairman of the For Freedom movement Aliaksandr Milinkevich, Slovak human rights activist Balázs Jarábik, representative of the European Humanities University Aliaksei Pikulik, representative of Brussels-based Centre for European Studies Eugeniusz Smolar, and former foreign minister of Slovakia Pavol Demeš took part in the conference.

As charter97.org website learned from Iryna Krasouskaya, the head of We Remember foundation, Alyalsandr Kazulin and Statnislau Shushkevich made the most emotional speeches.

Alyaksadnr Kazulin said the global community must urgently react to the situation in Belarus, because the real leaders of the Belarusian opposition were in prison. The politician reminded that Aliaksandr Atroshchankau, spokesman for presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau, had been sentenced to 4 years in a medium security penal colony, and the crackdown would only grow. The machine of Stalin-style purges was put into operation in the country. “How long must we tolerate this? How many people must be killed and imprisoned in Belarus? This dictatorship is dangerous for Europe, not only for Belarus,” the former political prisoner said.

Stanislau Shushkevich spoke about the funds allocated the European Union for the civil society development and noted that people who really worked for democracy in Belarus had inner convictions. According to him, people in prisons are real heroes of the country and must be rescued.

Pavol Demeš, a former foreign minister of Slovakia, attended Independence Square in Minsk on December 19 and spoke about brutal dispersal of the demonstration and mass arrests of opposition members.

The Belarusian issues provoked a hot discussion. People asked about the events on December 19, a possible reply by the EU and the US, possible actions to develop civil society in Belarus, and sanctions to be imposed on the regime of Lukashenka.

Belarus was a key topic in the speech by Milan Ježovica, the Slovak MFA Press Secretary. According to him, the regime in Minsk must not have a good sleep imagining that the whole Europe is concerned only about the problems in the Middle East. “We must demand the release of political prisoners. When looking at Minsk, Europe should not only know and remember President Lukashenka as the face of the regime. We must see and know the faces of democratic activists,” Ježovica said.

Portraits of all Belarusian political prisoners were exhibited in the foyer of the hotel hosting the GLOBSEC 2011. Every participant of the forum was handed in a booklet “Release Political Prisoners!” with portraits of Belarusian prisoners of conscience.