Demonstration in LondonThe following text was composed and distributed in front of the Belarus Embassy 19-21 December, 2010 by Belarusians of London and friends for freedom of Belarus.
We demand the release of all political prisoners and new presidential elections in Belarus — democratic and without Lukashenka:
• Such elections must be run by an fully independent commission, appropriately accredited and recognised as such;
• Such elections need to be made democratic and transparent by a comprehensive range of democratic legal amendments and practical assurances of a free and fair campaign and vote (including transparent ballotboxes, adequate access by observers at all stages, etc.).
• The country’s monopolistic state electronic media must be stripped of its role of the incumbent regime’s propaganda loudspeaker, the freedom of speech needs to be restored in Belarus;
• An audit and investigation, by an independent commission inclusive of international commissioners, must be conducted into the vote-rigging in Belarus committed at all levels, holding to account all those engaged in election rigging and in political repression in Belarus, during and after this election campaign.
Today the only remaining way for a return to a constitutionally legitimate and democratic rule in Belarus by the peaceful means of election is holding new free elections without Lukashenka.
The UK and the West ought not to seek rapprochement with the ruling undemocratic regime in Belarus over the heads of the nation’s democratic society and at the country’s democratic future.
This article appeared in
Belarusian Review, Vol. 22, No. 4
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Copyright 2010 Belarusian Review
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