Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections protest post-election repression
Minsk - December 2, 2019
On November 17, elections of members of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus of the 7th convocation were held in Belarus.
Having conducted non-partisan monitoring of all stages of the elections, we, representatives of the campaign Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections, concluded that the elections, in general, failed to meet a number of key international standards for democratic and free elections, as well as the election laws of the Republic of Belarus.
The elections primarily did not result in a significant increase in repression, which was noted by the domestic observers as a positive development.
However, in the aftermath of the elections, administrative charges were brought against more than twenty active participants in the peaceful demonstrations that took place in Minsk in the period of the electoral campaign, including against people who were directly involved in the elections as candidates, trustees, or members of nomination groups.
We note that the persecution of citizens for the peaceful exercise of their basic political and civil rights during the election period is nothing but a violation of human rights and undisguised political repression in the post-election period, which further highlights the undemocratic nature of the elections.
In this regard, we, representatives of Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections, express our protest and call on the authorities of Belarus to immediately put an end to repression against members of opposition parties and initiatives.
Once again, we urge the authorities to fulfill their obligations in the field of human rights arising from the international treaties ratified by the Republic of Belarus, most notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.