Belarus: AFD international calls for an end to violence and for transparency regarding the presidential elections.

For more than 15 days now, Belarusian demonstrators have been taking to the streets to claim the departure of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in office in the country since 1994 (26 years).

As a result of the last presidential elections’ outcome on August 9, 2020, Belarusian citizens came out massively to contest the announcement of the victory of outgoing President Alexander Lukashenko with more than 80% of the votes. Tens of thousands of demonstrators chanted “LEAVE” in the streets of the capital Minsk and a large number of cities across the country. The demonstrators were joined by a very large number of workers, who abandoned their working tools in order to unite with the demonstrators and express their anger towards Lukashenko’s regime. This is followed by extreme violence against the demonstrators and several journalists were arrested and beaten by the police. More than 7,000 demonstrators were deprived of liberty and two people have been killed so far.

AFD International calls on the Belarusian authorities to :

– Put an end to all oppression against demonstrators.
– Free peaceful demonstrators, as well as all journalists and opponents.
– Investigate the way the elections were conducted and, if there are clear violations, authorities should think of re-run it.
– Allow journalists to practice their profession without any restrictions.

AFD International
Europe Department
Brussels
23/08/2020