In a debate in Strasbourg on April 29, the Rapporteur on behalf of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs, Christos Pourgourides, stated: "Lukashenko does not care about our resolutions. He's confident that we'll fall to his feet. We must stop it. There should be no contacts with Belarusian authorities".
«Get lost!!», by this expression Christos Pourgourides described the position of Belarusian authorities towards the Council of Europe, the UCP website informs. The debate on the situation in Belarus was held at PACE plenary session.
The Chairman of Sub-Committee on Belarus, Sinikka Hurskainen also made a report. «Observation» by diplomatic representatives can not be compared with a full-fledged work of international observers with special experience in this area», Sinikka Hurskainen stressed. According to her, the elections were held in «total absence» of international observers. «Belarus could apply to a special body of the Council of Europe, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, to send an observer mission», European Radio for Belarus quotes the report.
To participate in the debate in Strasbourg, there were invited the leader of the UCP, Anatoly Lebedko, and chairman of the Standing Committee on Human Rights of the House of Representatives, Alexander Yushkevich. During his speech, Anatoly Lebedko criticized the election campaign in the local councils. «We are the witnesses of a severe crisis of the system, which is the Soviet in its essence», the leader of the UCP said.
The former president of PACE, Luís Maria de Puig, in the debate said that the current policy of Belarusian authorities — is «an act of aggression against our values».
