BELARUSALERT – DAY 45
Date: 23 September 2020
Sanctions for Lukashenko will be delayed
The Viasna Human Rights Center announced that since the beginning of the presidential campaign in Belarus over 250 criminal cases have been initiated against campaign participants and staff in addition to people taking part in post-election protests. Most frequently the charges are made from articles of the penal code concerning mass riots, organization or active participation in group actions violating public order, opposition to officers as well as violence or threat of violence against an officer. One of the tools used by the regime are repressions for alleged fraud. The article of the penal code on tax evasion was used to detain, among others, Viktar Babaryka’s staff and employees of companies that helped the opposition. Meanwhile, a good information for Lukashenko appeared. The EU summit announced for September 24-25 is postponed to October 1-2. The reason? Coronavirus in the surroundings of Charles Michel. This means a delay of potential sanctions against Belarus. During the meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the EU, it was not possible to reach unanimity on this issue (opposition of Cyprus), so the decision had to be made at the summit of EU leaders. It turns out that this will happen next week at the earliest.
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