Joint statement by:
· the Chair of the Delegation for relations with Belarus, MEP Robert BIEDROŃ, and
· the European Parliament's Standing Rapporteur on Belarus, MEP Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS
on the use of migrants by A. Lukashenka's regime to destabilise Lithuania, and on the latest crackdown on independent journalists, civil society activists and human rights defenders in Belarus
Brussels, 15 July 2021 - "Wedeplore the despicable instrumentalisation of illegal migrants by the Belarusian regime as part of hybrid measures aimed at pressuring the EU in response to its fourth set of restrictive measures. More specifically, a spectacular surge in illegal migrants is being orchestrated by Aliaksandr Lukashenka's acolytes in order to destabilise Lithuania, an EU Member State that has led by example by denouncing widespread human rights violations and providing asylum to many Belarusian opposition figures.
At the same time, we strongly condemn the coordinated attacks on prominent civil society activists, human rights defenders and journalists, including police raids, searches of offices and homes, as well as other measures designed to prevent them from revealing the truth about the scale of regime's crimes. We are deeply concerned that at least twelve non-state media outlets such as Nasha Niva, as well as the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the Association of Belarusians Worldwide 'Batskaushchyna', the Centre for Economic Research (BEROC), the Human Rights Centre 'Viasna' (whose founder, 2020 Sakharov Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, and Deputy Chairperson Valiantsin Stefanovic, have not been reachable since the police raided their homes) and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee have been targeted by this latest crackdown.[...]
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP
