Council of EU Criticizes Election In Belarus, Supports Protesters

The people of Belarus deserve better, the European Council underlined.

The Council of the European Union stated that during the electoral campaign, the people of Belarus have demonstrated the desire for democratic change. However, the elections were neither free nor fair. This is expressed in the statement of the Council of the European Union dated August 11.

“State authorities deployed disproportionate and unacceptable violence causing at least one death and many injuries. Thousands of people were detained and the crackdown on freedoms of assembly, media and expression intensified. We call on the Belarusian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all detained. Furthermore, credible reports of domestic observers show that the electoral process did not meet the international standards expected of an OSCE participating State,” the statement reads.

The EU claims that without progress on human rights and the rule of law, the EU-Belarus relationship can only get worse. The EU Council also demanded that the Belarusian authorities immediately release those detained during the protests.