Parliament expresses its strong solidarity with the countries of the European Union affected by the hybrid attacks in Belarus, while calling for the Lukashenko regime to be brought to justice, plenary A disaster.
In a resolution adopted on Thursday, Parliament expressed strong solidarity with Lithuania, Poland and Latvia, as well as other EU countries that had recently been subjected to attempts by the Belarusian regime to divert large numbers of migrants and refugees to the EU’s external borders, along with hundreds of people. They were detained after crossing the European Union border illegally and even after some deaths.
MEPs stress that Belarusian state-funded illegal migrant crossings in the EU, as well as a disinformation campaign, are a type of hybrid war aimed at intimidating and destabilizing the EU.
They state that the European Union institutions and the Member States urgently need to address the multidimensional crisis on the Belarusian border in order to help and provide the necessary support to the migrants stranded there.
Belarus case before the International Court of Justice
In the resolution, Parliament also emphasized the need to consider referring Belarus to the International Court of Justice for large-scale crimes committed against the country’s citizens by the regime of the illegitimate dictator Alexander Lukashenko. This should be done on the basis of the violations of the Chicago Convention, the Montreal Convention and the UN Convention against Torture by Belarus, the text states.
MEPs also continue to condemn the “repression, torture and ill-treatment of the peaceful people of Belarus”, which has not ended since the outbreak of popular protests over the fraudulent presidential election last August.
Additional EU sanctions are needed
Furthermore, the decision regrets that the economic sanctions imposed by the European Union had only a partial effect on the Lukashenko regime. He therefore urges EU countries to further intensify targeted economic sanctions, focusing on key sectors in Belarus, and to move forward urgently with the fifth package of sanctions against Belarusian individuals and entities involved in the ongoing campaign of repression.
It also calls on MEPs to unequivocally support the democratic opposition in Belarus by holding free and fair elections under international supervision. They also condemned the ongoing relationship between Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin and reiterated the urgent need to reveal Russia’s support for Lukashenko’s brutal repression of the Belarusian people and its participation in hybrid actions against the European Union.
The text was adopted by 506 votes to 29, with 139 abstentions.
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