{"id":205593,"date":"2020-08-13T11:21:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T11:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watchdog.md\/?p=205593"},"modified":"2023-03-15T20:00:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T20:00:15","slug":"statement-by-the-national-platform-of-the-eastern-partnership-civil-society-forum-regarding-the-presidential-elections-of-9-august-2020-and-political-situation-in-belarus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/news\/205593\/statement-by-the-national-platform-of-the-eastern-partnership-civil-society-forum-regarding-the-presidential-elections-of-9-august-2020-and-political-situation-in-belarus\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement by the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Regarding the Presidential Elections of 9 August 2020 and Political Situation in Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Moldovan National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum <\/strong>expresses its solidarity with the Belarusian National Platform<\/strong><\/a> regarding the Presidential elections of 9 August 2020 and political situation in Belarus. We are also sharing the concerns expressed by the <\/strong>European Union<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>U.S. Department of State<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>OSCE\/ODIHR<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>Venice Commission<\/strong><\/a> and some countries<\/strong>. We are deeply concerned on the multiple incidents of excessive use of force and violence of the law-enforcement bodies against Belarusians protesters, including on women and minors and condemn the reprisals and arbitrary detention of political opposition and peaceful protesters. We urge the Belarusian government to stop all acts of violence and the persecution of protesters, to respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and of the press and to release all unfairly detained and all political prisoners. We also would like to remind the Belarusian authorities its international obligations under the main human rights treaties such as UN Convention Against Torture, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

According to the Belarusian National Platform<\/a>, <\/strong>Presidential Elections in Belarus on 9 August 2020 have been accompanied by massive violations of human rights and can by no means be regarded as free, transparent and democratic. During the whole electoral process, the state government has been deliberately hindering the free expression of will by citizens which included prosecution against alternative candidates and their team members; (cyber)bullying and repressions towards bloggers, journalists, activists and ordinary citizens; massive manipulations and fraud during the voting process.\u00a0According to the Belarusian NGOs<\/a>, the electoral process at all of its stages did not comply with a number of basic international standards for democratic and fair elections and was accompanied by numerous violations of these principles and requirements of national legislation.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Central\r\nElection Commission of Belarus claims that more than 80% of voices were given\r\nfor Aleksandr LUKASHENKO which has provoked fair outrage from citizens. On the\r\nevening of 9 August 2020 thousands of people went out on the streets of their\r\ncities. The Belarusian authorities deployed disproportionate and unacceptable\r\nviolence against peaceful protesters. This inadequate and violent reaction of\r\nthe security and police agencies is therefore the cause for the escalation of\r\nthe violence. According\r\nto the Belarusian National Platform, <\/strong>about thousands of\r\narrested, dozens of injured and few death cases among protesters have been\r\nregistered. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We strongly condemn the statement made by the\r\nPresident of the Republic of Moldova, on behalf of the Moldovan people. On 10 August 2020<\/a>, Mr. Igor\r\nDODON, congratulated Mr. Aleksandr LUKASHENKO of being elected as President of\r\nBelarus. The Moldovan President rushed to express his congratulations ignoring\r\nsevere concerns about compliance with electoral standards and repressions of\r\nthe peaceful protests. We consider this statement represents neither the\r\nmajority of the Moldovans nor of the signatories of this statement. The people\r\nof the Republic of Moldova, in solidarity with the Belarusians, respect the\r\nhighest standards and fairness of the electoral process and the right to\r\npeaceful protest.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

According to\r\nthe Independent Journalism Center<\/a> from Moldova, the media affiliated to the president\u2019s Dodon Socialist Party, did not\r\nreflect accurately the violence and police disproportionate interventions\r\nagainst protesters in Belarus. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Moldovan National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil\r\nSociety Forum <\/strong>expresses its solidarity with the Belarusian National\r\nPlatform<\/a> and\r\nBelarusian people and in accordance with the principles of democracy, rule of\r\nlaw and peaceful assembly <\/strong>urging the authorities of Belarus to:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n