President Obama and democratic governments should work for the release of beaten and arrested Belarusian demonstrators and presidential candidates, urged U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Ranking Member of the Helsinki Commission, also known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation  in Europe (CSCE).

    This week, Belarusians, whose country has been governed by the dictator Alexander Lukashenka since the mid-1990s, voted in a presidential election. After it was announced that Lukashenka had won with 80 percent of the vote, demonstrators protesting unfair electoral practices converged on Minsk’s Independence Square. While the responsibility for initiating violence is unclear, government forces savagely beat many in the crowd and have arrested over 600 people, including five opposition presidential candidates. The OSCE, which sent election monitors to Belarus, has stated the election was not free and fair, and the U.S. government has stated that it does not accept the result as legitimate.

    “Sadly, this week’s election in Belarus was rigged by the Lukashenka dictatorship, which hit a new low in severely beating and arresting opposition candidates and many hundreds of demonstrators,” Smith said. “The democratic governments of the world should do everything they can to ensure peaceful demonstrators are freed as soon as possible and have access to the medical care they need. Once again Europe’s last dictatorship has shown itself to be heartless and lacking in the most basic human decency.” 

    For years Smith has fought for human rights in Belarus. In 2004, he authored Congress’s first legislation on Belarus, the Belarus Democracy Act, and in 2006 authored its reauthorization, acts which provided for financial sanctions on the Belarusian government, travel sanctions on President Lukashenka and his senior officials, and authorized support for independent radio broadcasting into Belarus, for Belarusian human rights groups, democratic activists, and independent media and labor unions. In June 2009 Smith and a group of American congressmen met President Lukashenka in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Smith strongly urged Lukashenka to make major changes to the way he governs Belarus, most importantly by recognizing the human rights of the Belarusian people and permitting free and fair elections. Last month, Smith introduced a congressional resolution urging that Sunday’s election be free and fair.

    The human rights record of the Belarusian government under the Lukashenka dictatorship is very poor. According to the U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Belarus, released in March, 2010:

“…government authorities continued to commit frequent serious abuses. The right of citizens to change their government was severely restricted. The government failed to account for past politically motivated disappearances. Prison conditions remained extremely poor, and reports of abuse of prisoners and detainees continued. Arbitrary arrests, detentions, and imprisonment of citizens for political reasons, criticizing officials, or for participating in demonstrations also continued. The judiciary lacked independence, trial outcomes usually were predetermined, and many trials were conducted behind closed doors. The government further restricted civil liberties, including freedoms of press, speech, assembly, association, and religion and continued to enforce politically motivated military conscriptions of opposition youth leaders. The government seized published materials from civil society activists and limited the distribution of a number of independent media outlets. State security services used unreasonable force to disperse peaceful protesters. Corruption continued to be a problem. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and political parties were subjected to harassment, fines, and prosecution. Religious leaders were fined or deported for performing services, and churches continued to face persecution from authorities. Trafficking in persons remained a significant problem, although some progress was made to combat it… Authorities harassed independent unions and dismissed their members, severely limiting the ability of the workers to form and join independent trade unions and to organize and bargain collectively.”

    In addition to being an active member of the Helsinki Commission, Smith is a senior member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. He has authored significant human rights legislation and is recognized as a leader in Congress in defending human rights around the world.

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