Belarus : Drop Lukashenko, not his people

[tufta]

Drop Lukashenko, not his people
20 December 2010 Rzeczpospolita Warsaw

The Belarusian president is set to serve a fourth term after what seems to be another rigged election. Nonetheless, the West should not turn its back on its eastern neighbour, argues Rzeczpospolita.
Jerzy Haszczyński

And so once again a Belarusian presidential election has become a problem for the West. The beating of the incumbent�s rivals by the police, clubbing of anti-government protesters, arrests of opposition leaders � all that is hardly doing anything to encourage an opening towards Lukashenko�s Belarus. Rather, it looks like a return to those grim times when Alexander Lukashenko was called the �last dictator in Europe�.

The results of the Sunday ballot (79.67% for the incumbent) are being called into question in Minsk, with opposition sources estimating Lukashenko�s score at half of that reported by government-commissioned exit polls. So what should be our reaction to the official results? Should we reintroduce sanctions against the Belarusian regime, again ban their officials from visiting the West, cut Lukashenko off from the Alpine slopes and get-togethers with Berlusconi? It is easier to say what should be our reaction to the beating of opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyayev � sharp criticism and indignation.

We should not, however, be making hasty emotional decisions. I am not suggesting we should pretend nothing has happened. A lot has happened and we should say this out loud. Explanations have to be demanded about vote counting and police attacks on opposition leaders.
Belarus isn�t an easy partner for anyone

The West must not, however, vacillate between sanctions and promises, threaten the regime with a stick one day and offer the carrot on another. Did those offering a bunch of carrots before the elections really expect them to observe democratic standards? Did they expect, for instance, the poll station officials� mentality to change overnight?

Belarus is not the only country east of the EU where election results are, to put it mildly, open to doubt. And the West sees nothing wrong in talking to the other regional leaders and doing business with them. There is a certain country east of the EU where the police attacks an 82-year-old lady (Ludmila Alekseyeva, Russian opposition figure -ed) and this doesn�t cause any deterioration in its relations with the West.

Mr Lukashenko has many sins on his conscience and one day his own people will probably force him to account for them. But under his reign, Belarus has strengthened its sovereignty. This isn�t an easy partner for anyone. And that isn�t going to change.

The West should seriously consider whether to turn its back on Lukashenko. And it certainly shouldn�t be turning its back on the Belarusians. Belarus hasn�t been irrevocably lost for the Western world yet.




From Moscow
Victory, with some help from Europe and Russia

�Alexander Lukashenko�s main battle has been fought and won in the field of foreign affairs,� remarks Gazeta.ru. �But just three or four months ago, few would have predicted such a victory.� At that time, �the West was demanding that he liberalise his internal policy and Russia was undermining the country�s economy.� But as the Russian news website explains, �instead of facing a rain of threats, Belarus became the object of intense courtship,� with Russia and the EU vying to become its favoured partner. �European leaders traveled to Minsk bearing offers of cooperation. At the same time, Russia resumed deliveries of untaxed petrol in exchange for Belarusian agreement to create a unified economic space. In Europe, the figure cited for aid to Belarus was three billion euros, while in Moscow the cost of measures in support of the country was evaluated at two billion dollars per year.�

�Lukashenko�s successful demonstration of a capacity to build ties with Europe effectively forced the Kremlin to devote considerable resources to the task of recovering its strategic ally,� remarks Gazeta.ru. �The situation in Europe is much simpler. The Europeans are more interested in processes than results, and the processes that they want to see can be launched with Lukashenko as head of state. In fact, this is already happening.�//

www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/435271-drop-lukashenko-not-his-people

[Bonobo]

Dec 20, 2010 18:40:25 GMT 1 tufta said:

The West must not, however, vacillate between sanctions and promises, threaten the regime with a stick one day and offer the carrot on another. Did those offering a bunch of carrots before the elections really expect them to observe democratic standards? Did they expect, for instance, the poll station officials’ mentality to change overnight?

Carrot is offered because Lukashenka pretends to be maintaining Belarus`s independence from Russia.

This beating on election day reminded me of Poland in 1980s. Belarus has surely a long way to go.
















The regime provocateur is breaking the panes in the government building. Soon afterwards the riot police charged and detained 700 people.

[tufta]

Dec 20, 2010 23:49:40 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

Carrot is offered because Lukashenka pretends to be maintaining Belarus`s independence from Russia.

I am afraid Sikorski-Westerwelle recent visit on Belarus was a mistake, as now is being pointed out. The Belarusan TV showed just nad shaking and smiles, without the message those diplomats conveyed, In effect the position of Likashenka was stenghtened...

[Bonobo]

Dec 22, 2010 18:35:29 GMT 1 tufta said:

Dec 20, 2010 23:49:40 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

Carrot is offered because Lukashenka pretends to be maintaining Belarus`s independence from Russia.

I am afraid Sikorski-Westerwelle recent visit on Belarus was a mistake, as now is being pointed out. The Belarusan TV showed just nad shaking and smiles, without the message those diplomats conveyed, In effect the position of Likashenka was stenghtened...

Yes, it was breeding the monster policy.

But Sikorski came to his senses and realised his mistake:



Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski says that a ‘reliable source’ has informed him that the official results of the presidential election in Belarus on Sunday have been falsified and Alexander Lukashenko did not win the ballot outright.

“According to sources, which we believe to be true, Alexander Lukashenko has not won this election,” Sikorski told the private TVN television channel, suggesting that this was the reason behind the brutal suppression of demonstrations on Sunday night.

Sikorski’s remarks come as five out of the nine other presidential candidates languish in prison. Andrei Sannikov, Vladimir Neklyavev, Nikolai Statkevich, Ales Mikhalevich and Vitaly Rymashevsky are being held in Belarusian security service (KGB) detention centres along with hundreds of protestors and joureign and Belarusian journalists.

Poland’s foreign minister also said he believed that Lukashenko’s vote share was actually well below the 50 percent, which would have necessitated a second round in the election.
A poll for the Polish funded Belsat TV station released on Sunday as polling stations closed found that Lukashenko won around 30 percent of the vote at the weekend, 50 percent less that official exit polls and results suggest.
Sikorski said that results released by Belarus’s election commission, that Lukashenko received 80 percent of the vote, are a forgery.
Poles understand violence in December
On the violent reaction of police and militia in Minsk against protestors who claimed the election was rigged, Sikorski said, “We Poles associate with that kind of repression in the month of December. It reminds us of martial law [which began in Poland December 1981].”

Lukashenko said on television on Monday that police had detained 639 people, many of which he called “bandits” for trying to kick down the doors of a government building.

Minsk authorities say that around 600 will be kept in prison for up to two weeks while their case is being processed.

Counter accusations say that state militia attacked the building as part of a provocation to discredit the opposition. (pg)

[tufta]

Dec 20, 2010 23:49:40 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

This beating on election day reminded me of Poland in 1980s. Belarus has surely a long way to go.

Take a look here, Bo


//Lukashenko the Loser
By CARL BILDT, KAREL SCHWARZENBERG, and RADEK SIKORSKI
Published: December 23, 2010

There can be no business-as-usual between the European Union and Belarus’ president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, after what has happened since the presidential election in Belarus last Sunday.

In recent months, the hope grew that his words could be taken seriously. He promised to invite international observers to the election, and he delivered on the promise. He talked about giving the opposition some space during the election campaign, and there were some improvements.

The E.U. responded by suspending sanctions and with a generous offer of conditional political dialogue, economic cooperation and the possibility of financial assistance. It would have been in the interests of both Europe and the people of Belarus to continue.

Then everything changed.

Mr. Lukashenko probably understood that he would not get the required 50 percent of the votes needed to avoid a humiliating second round against a single opposition candidate. All independent exit polls gave him significantly less than this. While the voting proceeded in an orderly fashion, the counting of the votes turned into a charade. The report of the independent observers assessed the counting as “bad” or “very bad” in nearly half the polling stations they could observe, and it is not unreasonable to assume that it was even worse in the others.

It was obvious that there were orders not to count the votes, but to deliver a predetermined result. There is no way to know what the real result of the election was. The exit polls give interesting indications, but no more. What is abundantly clear is that the announced result has no democratic legitimacy whatsoever.

But worse was to follow.

Opposition candidates were beaten, dragged away and detained. Hundreds of campaign workers were also rounded up and taken to prison. Summary trials produced sentences without any basis in facts. Political prisoners have become the new reality. Repression is the stated policy.

Europe has not seen anything like this in years. The combination of vote rigging and outright repression makes what Slobodan Milosevic tried to do in Serbia in 2000 pale in comparison. What we have seen brings back memories of the introduction of martial law in Poland in 1981.

Where will this end? The forces of repression might carry the day, but the wounds in society will not heal, and a siege regime will clearly not survive forever. Prospects of money from the West to save a deteriorating economic situation have in all probability gone up in smoke. Investors will be wary of a country that has so spectacularly shown its contempt for the law.

The European Union is founded on values of human rights, democracy and the rule of the law. It will not stand indifferent to gross violations of these values in its own part of the world.

Continued positive engagement with Mr. Lukashenko at the moment seems to be a waste of time and money. He has made his choice — and it is a choice against everything the European Union stands for.

But there are many in Belarus who know that his clock is ticking — and are discreetly preparing for a better future.

Our many conversations with representatives of different parts of Belarus society have convinced us that the country wants to be part of a free and prosperous Europe. We must now deepen our engagement with the democrats of Belarus and those inside the government who disapprove of the fateful turn their country has taken. They must not be abandoned or betrayed as their country enters what might be a new dark era.

The best test of our own values is what we do on behalf of the powerless. Europe must not be mute.

Carl Bildt, Karel Schwarzenberg and Radoslaw Sikorski are the foreign ministers, respectively, of Sweden, the Czech Republic and Poland.
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on December 24, 2010, in The International Herald Tribune.//

[Bonobo]

Dec 23, 2010 17:10:01 GMT 1 tufta said:

Europe must not be mute.

Surely, Belarus needs Europe more than the other way round.

What might happen now?

The optimistic scenario: Belarus will drop Lukashenka one day, in a peaceful or revolutionary way. But it is going to take a long time, since the current economic situation there is not as tragic as it was in Polish 1980s. But without European investment and loans, or in the long run without the membership in the EU, it is doomed to deteriorate gradually.
Then it will be time to get rid of the dictator and adopt democracy.

Pessimistic scenario: Lukashenka will rule as long as Russian leaders want him to handle Belarus for them. He is a puppet whose strings have their ends in the Kremlin in Moscow. Belarus is too important for Russians to lose it on behalf of Europe and democracy. They will sponsor its crumbling economy and offer cheap gas and oil, with the sole reason of keeping the Belarus society on the Russian side.

Which scenario is more probable?

I am a pessimist here.
But we can always try. Trying hasn`t harmed anybody yet.

[Bonobo]

Poland is doing exactly what tufta proposed: dropping Lukashenko, supporting Belarussians.


Poland ends visa fees for Belarusians in ‘Solidarity’ gesture
30.12.2010 07:37

As of January 2011, Poland will stop charging the 20 euro visa fee currently demanded from Belarusian citizens when entering the country, in a move the government says is an "expression of Solidarity” with ordinary Belarusians.

The Foreign Ministry says this move is “an expression of solidarity with and respect for the Belarusian people, who sent a strong signal of support for democratic movements during the December 19 presidential election.”

“We want to help our eastern neighbours to strengthen their European identity through more numerous contacts with Poles and other citizens of the European Union,” reads a statement issued by the ministry.

Meanwhile, the lawyer of 64 year-old opposition leader Vladimir Nikolayev - who was badly beaten at a demonstration after the elections - said that the his client, who is currently in jail, took a turn for the worse on Wednesday and “his life may be in danger”

Hunger strike

Another presidential candidate also in prison, Nikolai Satkevich, has gone on hunger strike, according to his lawyer.

Poland’s foreign ministry says it is compiling a list of persons who are not welcome in Poland, including persons responsible for the repression of Belarusian opposition activists in demonstrations following the presidential election, which Belarus’s election commission declared was won by incumbent Alexander Lukashenko.

Opposition leaders - many of whom were arrested during a brutal police crackdown - alongside the US, EU, Poland and others have derided the result after election observers declared vote counting “flawed”.

Seven presidential candidates have been formally charged with organizing a mass public disturbance and face up to 15 years in prison.


======================================================
Universities open doors to Belarusian students
29.12.2010 09:04
Around 50 Polish universities are to open their doors to Belarusian students who were kicked out of their schools after violent protests following the presidential elections.

Minister for Science and Higher Education, Barbara Kudrycka told Polish Radio that a similar situation arose four years ago after presidential elections in Poland’s eastern neighbour prompted 244 students to come to Poland to continue their studies.

However, Kudrycka estimates that the number of Belarusian students seeking further education in Poland may be higher after this year’s elections, which saw bloody riots and police beatings.

Apart from students, a number of lecturers and academic staff from Belarus may also be hired by Polish universities, although the conditions of employment, including wages, are still unclear, according to the minister.

Talking to Polish Radio, Minister Kudrycka also assured that Belarusian students could count on financial aid.

[Bonobo]

Poland has banned Aleksander Lukashenko and other officials from entering the country, following the crackdown against opposition leaders and democratic activists in Belarus. Will the EU as a whole follow?

“This is a clear symbol of Poland’s solidarity with the people of Belarus,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Marcin Bosacki said.

“We want to support evident [democratic] tendencies that were manifest on 19 December,” he added.

The travel ban follows presidential elections in Belarus, which gave incumbent Aleksander Lukashenko 80 percent of the vote, a result questioned by the EU, OSCE and other bodies.

Magdalena Jensen reports that German chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the EU to follow suit and introduce a ban on travel for Belarusian diplomats and politicians within the EU. (

www.thenews.pl/international/?id=146778

[Bonobo]

The EU is to impose a travel ban on 158 Belarusian officials from President Luakshenko’s administration Monday.

Brussels is to maintain the sanctions until all political prisoners, arrested in the wake of disputed presidential elections in Belarus on 19 December are freed. Minsk is also being urged to ensure media freedom and make crucial reforms to election laws.

The PAP news agency reports a statement prepared ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers from all 27 EU nations today saying: "These restrictive measures and the list of affected persons will be open and continuously revised.”

The statement goes on to say that the EU, "has decided to impose visa restrictions and freeze assets of those responsible for fraudulent presidential election of 19 December 2010 and the subsequent brutal repression of the democratic opposition, civil society and independent media."

The travel ban will also include any countries where the EU has an associate agreement, those applying for membership, such as Turkey and Balkans nations such as Croatia, and nations in the European Economic Area such as Norway. In total, the travel ban will include around 40 nations.

The draft EU document does not mention economic sanctions, however.

The EU is following a travel ban slapped on President Lukashenko and others in his administration by Poland, which the Foreign Ministry says is already operational.

After the arrest of up to 700 opposition activists after December’s elections, Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote in a joint statement with his German, Swedish and Czech counterparts saying “What we have seen brings back memories of martial law in Poland in 1981.”

As it slaps travel bans on Belarusian officials, Warsaw has also waived visa fees for students and other wishing to travel to Poland. The Polish government has also pledged around 15 million euros to be given in aid to civil society groups in Belarus and maintains funding to alternative media outlets such as Belsat TV, which is based in Warsaw. (pg)

[Bonobo]

Belarusian Prosecutors threaten Polish journalist
11.03.2011 11:52

The Prosecutor’s Office in Minsk has warned Andrzej Poczobut, Belarusian correspondent of one of Poland’s leading dailies, that if he continues writing articles about the regime, he will face prosecution.

The official reason why the Belarusian Prosecutor’s Office issued a warning to the Gazeta Wyborcza journalist, who has repeatedly criticised Alexander Lukashenko’s regime and described repressions against the Belarusian opposition and the Union of Poles in Belarus, is the lack of accreditation from the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

The move comes after the Ministry deprived Poczobut of accreditation in 2009 and since then has consistently refused to issue a new document.

“A series of articles about events in Belarus have been published on Gazeta Wyborcza’s web site under your name. We have established that you have no accreditation,” Viktar Marozau, prosecutor from Grodno district wrote in an official letter, which additionally threatened the correspondent with “legal consequences.”

Similar warnings were previously sent to Polish correspondents of Belsat television and Radio Racja, both of which broadcast in Belarus. According to Belarusian law, journalists who work without accreditation can be fined, although no such cases have been reported.

[Bonobo]

Belarusian courts rule Polish Card against international law
08.04.2011 07:30

The Constitutional Court of Belarus has ruled that the so-called Polish Card does not conform to international conventions on equality of states.

The ruling was announced by the independent Belarusian news agency, BelaPAN, Thursday afternoon following the court’s decision.

The Polish Card (Karta Polaka) was launched in 2007 by Poland’s Foreign Ministry. The card was to be issued to people of Polish descent but who may not hold dual citizenship due to restrictions in their country of residency.

Holders of the card may work and set up businesses in Poland, as well as obtain a Polish visa free of charge.

According to unofficial sources, over a dozen thousand citizens of Belarus have so far successfully obtained a Polish Card, although Belarusian parliamentarians believe that the document goes against international treaties.

The legality of the card, which has been cited in state Belarusian media as being “a joker in international games”, was looked at by the courts in Minsk, as well being handed over to the Constitutional Court last week.

In an effort to hamper Belarusian citizens from obtaining the Polish Card, Bielorusky Partizan, an opposition website informed four days ago that the Belarusian Central Archives had been given the order to stop producing documents showing family ties and lineage.

Belarusian authorities have denied the move, as documents provided by a number of other institutions may help in obtaining a Polish Card, such as church records.

Pole`s Card

[Bonobo]

Prominent Belarusian opposition leader Aleksander Lukin has defected to Poland.

Lukin was detained for 15 days by Belarusian authorities after protests against what was claimed to have been rigged presidential elections on 19 December last year.

Lukin undertook the desperate action while crossing the Polish-Belarusian border on Wednesday. He was accompanied by his family when Belarusian border guards attempted to detain them.

Lukin and his wife managed to flee across to Polish territory and find shelter there.

Their children were left in the car on the Belarusian side.

The incident had been discussed by representatives of Polish and Belarusian border services late last night, after which Aleksander Lukin decided to stay in Poland, while his wife returned to Belarus to claim the abandoned children.

Aleksander Lukin is a close aide to former opposition presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau.

He was sentenced by a Minsk court for participating in the anti-Lukashenko demonstrations staged in the Belarusian capital on election night of 19 December, last year.

After serving his penalty, Lukin travelled to France but had eventually returned to Belarus.

[Bonobo]

WARSAW, Poland -- After meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk Saturday in Warsaw, President Obama continued to criticize the authoritarian government of Belarus, calling out President Aleksandr Lukashenko by name.

The comments came one day after the U.S. State Department expanded sanctions against Lukashenko, often called “Europe’s last dictator.”

“President Lukashenko has shown a total disregard for democratic values, the rule of law, and the human rights of his own people,” President Obama said. “And his brutal crackdown included the conviction and sentencing of presidential candidates who challenged him in the presidential election, and the repression and imprisonment of members of the free press, including one of the Polish press.”

The Obama administration announced asset freezes and travel restrictions against Lukashenko and others in January. On Friday the president said in a statement that “ the U.S. Government will pursue new sanctions against Belarusian state-owned enterprises.”

Lukashenko recently jailed political opponents for having organized mass protests after the December 19 presidential elections, widely viewed as a sham. Lukashenko was “re-elected” with almost 80% of the vote. President Obama said the trials of Vladimir Neklyaev, Vitaly Rymashevsky, Andrei Sannikov and Dmitry Uss ”were clearly politically motivated and failed to meet even the most minimal standards required of a fair and independent judiciary.”

After meeting with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski earlier today, he said “Belarus is backsliding. The kind of repressive actions we’re seeing in Belarus can end up having a negative impact on the region as a whole, and that makes us less safe and makes us less secure.”

Since the most recent crackdown began, the governments of the US and Belarus have closely coordinated, President Obama said.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

[Bonobo]

Belarusian economy in meltdown?
25.05.2011
The National Bank of Belarus devalued the rouble by 50 percent on Tuesday, prompting Belarusians to queue to take out their savings from banks and panic buying has been reported in shops.



The Belarusian rouble fell in value against the Russian currency by 54 percent following the devaluation and the World Bank said the cut in value was a world record in the last 20 years.

The currency meltdown is a sign that the Belarusian economic model, which has been heavily reliant on Russian aid and state subsidy, is in serious trouble, says director of the analytics department at the RBC agency Alexander Yakovlev.

"The National Bank had no other choice at this stage. For many years, Belarus insisted that it has maintained a flourishing pseudo-socialist economy. But as it turned out, such an economy is not competitive and not self-sustaining, Yakolev told the Voice of Russia.

The problem is – who does Belarus turn to for help?

This week the EU agreed to tighten still sanctions against the Lukashenko regime following arrests and sentencing of opposition leaders in the wake of protests against what were widely regarded as rigged presidential elections on 19 December.

So Brussels will not be in a hurry to bail out President Lukashenko.

Russia may help but the price will be high, with Moscow demanding mass privatizations of state assets, to be bought by Russian firms. For instance, on 21 May, Belarus Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said that the state-owned Beltransgaz could be sold to Russia’s gas giant Gazprom.

Russia is in no hurry to come to Belarus’s aid anymore either, however, and a meeting between Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin in Minsk on 19 May was inconclusive. (pg)

[Bonobo]

Belarusian authorities reel in hundreds of protestors
04.07.2011 09:57
Mass protests against the Lukashenko regime in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, as well as other cities in the country, ended in hundreds of arrests, Sunday.

Authorities
Authorities take a protestor into custody during a demonstration in Minsk, 3 July 2011. Photo: PAP/EPA/Tatyana Zenkovich

According to human rights organisations operating in Poland’s eastern neighbour, at least 200 people have been arrested in Minsk alone, with opposition activists also being taken into custody in Gomel, Brest, and Mogilev.

A number of journalists have been arrested, including correspondents for Belsat TV working in Minsk and Grodno. A reporter for TOK FM was also taken in by authorities, but released soon after.

Belarusian militia in Grodno also detained Polish minority campaigner Igor Bancer, who has been present outside the city’s courts in the ongoing case against journalist and activist Andrzej Poczobut.

Tear gas and beatings

In Minsk, Militia used tear gas to disperse demonstrators taking part in a silent protest by the capital’s railway station.

As can be seen by a number of amateur videos uploaded to the Internet, Militia functionaries were unhesitant to use force. A number of undercover operatives also arrested a number of the protestors.

Unofficial sources say around 100 people were arrested during the demonstration by the Minsk railway station.

In addition, human rights organisations have counted some 70 arrests during an army parade and speech given by Alexander Lukashenko for Belarus’ Independence Day.

No clapping, please

Some of the arrests came as people started clapping, which has been deemed as a sign of silent protest by regime authorities in Belarus.

The move to ban clapping comes as demonstrators have been using web-based social networks to organise silent protests every Wednesday since the beginning of June.

While no banners have been held up to protest against authorities, which would likely end in arrest, demonstrators have taken to clapping as a sign of objection to Lukashenko’s regime.

www.thenews.pl/b4079593-0b08-47f0-a10e-be15f55de687.file

[Bonobo]

The Belarussian journalist of Polish origin, Andrzej Poczobut, was sentenced to 3 years in suspension for defaming Belarus President, Lukashenka. That is good because the family and experts had expected a much harsher punishment.

He claims: they won`t break me. A true Pole. ;D ;D ;D ;D

One day, when Lukashenka is gone, Poczobut will be building new, democratic Belarus. He already is.











[/img]

[Bonobo]

Poland condemns Belarusian human rights activist prison sentence
24.11.2011 13:36
The European Parliament and Poland’s Foreign Ministry have condemned the four and a half year prison sentence given to Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialatski.



Ales Bialatski: photo - EPA/Tatyana Zenkovich

A court in Minsk sentenced Bialatski, who heads the Viasna human rights organisation, to a term in a penal colony for “large-scale tax evasion”.

Poland’s Foreign Ministry says that the prison sentence, “is confirmation that the regime in Belarus fails to comply with basic standards of civil rights and freedoms granted by the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.”

“Poland and the European Union appeal to Belarus to immediately release Ales Bialatski and other political prisoners as precondition for the European Union’s dialogue with the Republic of Belarus,” the statement continues.

President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, a former Polish prime minister, said Thursday morning that the punishment was “unfair and political”.

Bialatski was arrested in Minsk in August. It emerged that Polish prosecutors had released details of a bank account held in Poland by the human rights activist to Belarusian lawyers.

Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said afterwards: “I apologize on behalf of Poland for this reprehensible mistake, We are going to double our efforts to help democracy in Belarus.”

Head of the international relations department at Poland’s Attorney General’s Office, Krzysztof Karsznicki, was dismissed following the release to Belarus of the sensitive bank details.

[Bonobo]

Belarus and EU in tit-for-tat diplomatic war
29.02.2012 07:56
Ambassadors from individual European Union member nations are to withdraw ambassadors from Minsk after the Polish and EU diplomats were expelled by the Lukashenko regime yesterday.

Belarus had asked the EU and Poland's ambassador to leave the country after new sanctions were imposed on the ex-Soviet state in protest against Minsk's worsening its human rights record.

The tit-for-tat decision to withdraw all EU member state diplomats from Belarus was taken following an emergency meeting in Brussels called by foreign policy chief Lady Ashton late last night.

“In a gesture of solidarity and unity we have decided that all ambassadors of European Union countries in Minsk will be called back to their capitals for consultations,” Catherine Ashton said.

President of the European Parliament. Martin Schulz called the decision to expel Polish and EU ambassadors from Minsk, “an act of hostility” by Belarusian authorities and “disproportionate and counterproductive”.

Poland's Foreign Ministry spokesman Marcin Bosacki issued a statement yesterday saying: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to announce that it regards this as an unfriendly step taken by Belarus towards the whole European Union. The European Union will respond to this measure.

“The Belarus authorities have long been aware of the terms on which a resumption of dialogue with the EU is possible: putting a stop to repressions against the civil society in Belarus and embarking on the path towards democratisation,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Last dictator

Support for came from individual member states last night after the expelling of diplomats by the Lukashenko government.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Brussels: "This is the last dictatorship, the last dictator in Europe, and we will not let ourselves be intimidated by such actions against a European institution or against a member state. The European Union and Poland can rely on Germany's solidarity. The dictator fools himself when he thinks he can divide us.”

The UK's foreign secretary, William Hague released a statement saying that: “In light of this most recent development, the UK has decided, in solidarity with all other EU Member States, to recall for consultations its Ambassador to Minsk and to summon the Belarusian Ambassador to the UK to the Foreign Office.”

Rising tension

Tensions between Belarus and EU states, particularly Poland have worsened considerably since what Brussels regards as rigged presidential elections in December 2010 which saw the re-election, for the fourth time, of the authoritarian Aleksander Lukashenko.

Mass arrests and imprisonment followed protests against the “rigged” elections.

President Lukashenko has also regarded political leaders of the Polish minority in Belarus as leading protests against the regime.