'Stop Flirting With Lukashenka,' U.S. Says Amid Reports On Systemic Human Rights Abuses

Washington D.C./12.05.23/Turan:    The U.S. ambassador to the OSCE on Thursday urged the participating states, including Azerbaijan, against "flirting or meeting" with members of the Lukashenka regime amid the latest Moscow Mechanism report on the regime’s human rights crackdown in Belarus, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"This is a time to make clear to all of our partners that we need to stand by the core values that are represented in the Helsinki Final Act," Ambassador Michael Carpenter said during a special online briefing organized by the State Department's Brussels Media Hub.

"It’s just absolutely unacceptable for a country that is engaged in this degree of repression, not to mention the fact that it is a co-aggressor and has facilitated Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine" he added in response to TURAN's questions, emphasizing that the "vast majority of states" in the international system view Belarus as "a pariah."

There are currently at least 1,486 political prisoners in Belarus, according to the latest Moscow Mechanism report prepared by Rapporteur Dr. Hervé Ascensio on the accelerating decline of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Belarus. 

Anecdotal reporting suggests that not only are people arrested and jailed for posting dissenting views on social media, but citizens are arrested merely for accessing information from reputable sources on their devices, Carpenter said.

"People have reportedly been arrested merely for speaking Belarusian, as this is seen as a form of protest.  Such a degree of repression appears aimed at eliminating civil society and independent voices altogether," he told reporters.

He went on to elaborate: "Only a few years ago, we all saw images of hundreds of thousands of Belarusians peacefully marching in the streets to protest the Lukashenka regime’s falsification of the August 2020 presidential election.  The regime has now taken revenge against its own people, as Belarusians are routinely prosecuted for their role in these demonstrations." 

Earlier this week, Belarusian blogger Nikolai Klimovich died in prison near Vitebsk after being denied medication for his heart condition.  He was accused of publishing a satirical cartoon of Aleksandr Lukashenka on social media.  

"For a proud country that suffered so much during the campaigns of World War II and under Soviet rule, and for a society that so bravely expressed its national identity and civic consciousness in recent years, it is just heartbreaking to see how ordinary citizens have been so thoroughly repressed by the Belarusian police state.  We call for accountability for all those who have abused the human rights of their fellow citizens," Carpenter concluded.

Alex Raufoglu