EU says Belarus vote not no cost, threatens sanctions
EUROPE has declared that the Belarus presidential election that returned authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko to office have been "neither free nor fair".
And, in a affirmation from EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell with respect to EU users, the bloc threatened "procedures on those in charge of the observed violence, unjustified arrests, and falsification of election results."
Belarus went to the polls on Sunday against a good backdrop of large-level opposition protests against Lukashenko's rule, however the official electoral commission declared him the champion.
Street demonstrations that contain since broken out were met with a good forceful law enforcement crackdown, and opposition prospect Svetlana Tikhanovskaya fled to Lithuania, saying she was fearful on her behalf children.
"During the electoral campaign, the people of Belarus possess demonstrated the desire to have democratic transformation," Borrell said found in the statement used after consultations with the 27 EU member claims.
"Status authorities deployed disproportionate and unacceptable violence triggering at least one death and many injuries," he explained, his dialect echoed in a tweet by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
"The persons of Belarus deserve better," he said, demanding the launching of the a large number of alleged opposition activists curved up during the protests.
Brussels previously had wider sanctions against statistics associated with Lukashenko's government, but lifted most of them in 2016 following the release of a good previous batch of political prisoners.
There is still a ban on exports of weapons and equipment that could be used to repress the populace, and four Belarusians are at the mercy of an EU travel ban and asset freeze.
The European Union's foreign ministers will meet on August 27 and 28 in Berlin, and may prepare new measures against Minsk for the approval of their leaders when they meet at a September 24 summit in Brussels. -- AFP
