Belarus opposition offers talks as U.N. hears fears of 'another iron curtain'

Geneva

Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya demanded on Friday an international mission to document what she called “atrocities” during crackdowns on anti-government protests, but said she was ready for talks to end weeks of violence.

She addressed a highly charged debate on the Belarus crisis at the U.N. Human Rights Council, where envoys from Minsk and its backer Moscow faced off against EU delegations who are pushing for investigations and sanctions.

U.N. rights investigator Anaïs Marin told the session that member states needed to act to prevent a major geopolitical rift. “Let’s not allow another iron curtain to descend on the European continent,” she said.

Marin said more than 10,000 people have been “abusively arrested”, with more than 500 reports of torture and thousands “savagely beaten”, since President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in a presidential election on Aug. 9.

Protesters say the election was fraudulent. Lukashenko says he won the vote fairly by a landslide and dismisses accusations of abuses as part of a Western smear campaign.

In Belarus, detained opposition politician and prominent protest leader Maxim Znak started a hunger strike in jail on Friday, the opposition Coordination Council said.

There were no reports of big demonstrations in Minsk, though the opposition has announced marches for Saturday and Sunday.

A man set himself on fire outside a police station in the town of Smolevichi on Friday, the interior ministry said, though it was not immediately clear if that was linked to the unrest. The ministry said the man had a history of mental illness.

“IT IS HEARTBREAKING”

In Geneva, the all-day talks, called by Germany on behalf of the European Union, were interrupted repeatedly by the delegations of Belarus, Russia, China and Venezuela raising procedural objections.

Yury Ambrazevih, Belarus ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said it was not acceptable to use the Human Rights Council to interfere in a country’s election.

The U.N. forum will consider an EU draft resolution for U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet to monitor the crisis and report back by year-end.

Opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya called in a video message for the monitoring mission and said the government should hold another election.

“I once again emphasize our willingness to talk with the authorities and look for a peaceful solution to the crisis that has affected our nation,” added Tsikhanouskaya, who fled her homeland for neighbouring Lithuania during the protests.

“We demand to immediately cease violence against peaceful citizens. We demand immediate release of all political prisoners,” said Tsikhanouskaya, speaking in English.

A Belarus court ordered another prominent opposition leader, Maria Kolesnikova, to be held in custody until Nov. 8 while facing trial on national security charges, the RIA news agency cited her lawyer as saying on Friday.

Kolesnikova, 38, ripped up her passport earlier this month to thwart an attempt to expel her to Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko’s main ally, agreed to loan Belarus $1.5 billion at a summit on Monday, and the two countries are conducting joint military training exercises in Belarus.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that special forces from Russia and Belarus had rehearsed a counter-terrorism scenario involving freeing hostages from a building in their “Slavic Brotherhood 2020” drills.

It said more than 800 military personnel from the two countries were taking part in the training near the Belarusian city of Brest.

During the U.N. debate, Ukraine’s foreign minister warned Russia against taking steps that may undermine the sovereignty of Belarus and destabilise the region.

“It is heartbreaking to watch the footage of our close neighbours viciously beaten down and arbitrarily detained on the streets of their native cities,” Dmytro Kuleba told the debate.