Because of the lockdown, the event, which was initiated by the Federal Chancellery and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the involvement of the Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya, will mainly take place virtually. Tichanovskaya hopes that the conference will bring about a commitment to the tough line in the sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.
Tichanovskaya himself will take part in a panel of ministers at the conference “Towards a prosperous and safe future for Belarus” in the morning. Her colleague Veronika Zepkalo and her husband Valeri Zepkalo, the leading opposition politician and ex-minister of culture Pawel Latuschko and other members of the opposition have been announced for expert panels in the afternoon. The hosts are Federal Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg and Foreign Minister Michael Linhart (both ÖVP).
“Signal that we have not abandoned Belarus”
In his opening statement, Linhart emphasized the hope that the conference “can be an important step forward”. It should be “another signal to Belarusian civil society” that it is not alone. That we have not let it down, “said Linhart, according to the text of the speech. “Our goal is not regime change. We want the Belarusian people to make their own decisions. Free. Without fear. A Belarus in which human rights, freedom of the media, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression are respected.”
Also announced at the conference were the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, Olivér Várhelyi, as well as the Foreign Ministers of Germany, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Representatives of the USA and France as well as the OSCE media representative Teresa Ribeiro and the international law expert Wolfgang Benedek from Graz should also join in. Representatives of the Belarusian regime or the Russian government, however, refused to attend.
Minsk: “Absolutely hostile move”
The Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makej had sharply criticized the conference more than a week ago. Minsk regards the fact that talks about a change of power in Belarus are to be expected as an “absolutely hostile step”, said Makej during a visit to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. For his part, Lavrov stated that, with all good intentions, a dialogue could not start like this. “This initiative made it clear that some feel superior,” criticized Lavrov.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry regretted the negative attitude from Minsk towards the Austrian initiative. “The aim of the conference in Vienna is to work with civil society to find ways out of the current crisis in Belarus,” said the Federal Chancellery. With the exception of a press conference with Schallenberg, Tichanowskaja, Várhelyi and Linhart in the Federal Chancellery, all items on the program will take place with the exclusion of the media public, informed a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry on Sunday evening.
Brutal action against opposition activists
In an interview with the APA, Tichanovskaya hoped that “the representatives of those EU countries participating in the conference will declare on behalf of the EU that there will be no return to business as usual”. So that “no one will recognize Lukashenko and no one will give in to his pressure. That our efforts for changes and new elections (of the president, note) are supported, that the release of political prisoners is demanded,” stressed Tichanovskaya. “The point is that the current, tough positions on sanctions are made clear once again and that everyone hears that too.”
Lukashenko has been brutal against opposition members since his controversial re-election in August 2020. The international lawyer from Graz, Benedek, who examined the human rights situation in Belarus on behalf of the OSCE, recommended that the presidential election should not be recognized. In his report, published a year ago, he documented human rights violations such as the threats, persecution and harassment of political activists, candidates, lawyers, companies, trade unionists and human rights activists.
According to the human rights organization Vyazna (Wesna), there are more than 800 political prisoners (as of October) in Belarus. Many opposition and intellectuals left their homeland. The EU imposed severe sanctions, which, according to the EU, prompted Lukashenko to bring migrants from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries into the country and smuggle them to the border with Poland and Lithuania. Even if some refugees have meanwhile been flown back, thousands are said to be stuck at the EU’s external border in icy temperatures.
Source From: Nachrichten
