[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 689 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 689

Condemning the crackdown on peaceful protestors in Belarus and calling 
       for the imposition of sanctions on responsible officials.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 14, 2020

   Mr. Risch (for himself, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Rubio, Mr. 
 Durbin, Mr. Graham, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Romney, Mr. Coons, 
   Mr. Johnson, Mr. Portman, and Mr. Kaine) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning the crackdown on peaceful protestors in Belarus and calling 
       for the imposition of sanctions on responsible officials.

Whereas Alyaksandr Lukashenka has ruled Belarus as an undemocratic dictatorship 
        since the first presidential election in Belarus in 1994;
Whereas subsequent presidential elections in Belarus have been neither free nor 
        fair and have been rejected by the international community as not 
        meeting minimal electoral standards, with the jailing of opposition 
        activists frequently used as a tool of government repression before and 
        after the elections;
Whereas, in response to the repression and violence during the 2006 presidential 
        election, Congress passed the Belarus Democracy Reauthorization Act of 
        2006 (Public Law 109-480);
Whereas, in March 2011, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 105, 
        which--

    (1) condemned the December 2010 election in Belarus as ``illegitimate, 
fraudulent, and not representative of the will or the aspirations of the 
voters in Belarus''; and

    (2) called on the Lukashenka regime ``to immediately and 
unconditionally release all political prisoners in Belarus who were 
arrested in association with the December 19, 2010, election'';

Whereas, in advance of the August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, 
        authorities acting on behalf of President Lukashenka arrested 
        journalists, bloggers, political activists, and opposition leaders, 
        including three leading presidential candidates (Syarhey Tsikhanouski, 
        Mikalay Statkevich, and Viktar Babaryka), who were barred from running 
        in the election by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of 
        Belarus;
Whereas, while the three opposition candidates were imprisoned, two of their 
        wives and one of their campaign managers, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, 
        Veranika Tsepkala, and Maria Kalesnikava, joined together and ran in 
        place of the candidates;
Whereas thousands of Belarusian people demonstrated their support for these 
        candidates by attending rallies, including one rally that included an 
        estimated 63,000 participants;
Whereas, on August, 5, 2020, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 
        658, which calls for a free, fair, and transparent presidential election 
        in Belarus, including the unimpeded participation of all presidential 
        candidates;
Whereas presidential elections were held in Belarus on August 9, 2020, under 
        undemocratic conditions with reports of malfeasance on the part of 
        Lukashenka's government, including early voting ballot stuffing, ballot 
        burning, pressuring poll workers, and removing bags full of ballots by 
        climbing out of windows;
Whereas incumbent president Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared a landslide victory 
        in the election and claimed to have received more than 80 percent of the 
        votes cast in the election;
Whereas the leading opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya--

    (1) formally disputed the government's reported election results;

    (2) explained that her staff had examined the election results from 
more than 50 polling places; and

    (3) found that her share of the vote exceeded Lukashenka's share by 
many times;

Whereas, on August 10, 2020, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was detained while 
        attending a meeting with the Central Election Commission of the Republic 
        of Belarus and forced to flee to Lithuania under pressure from 
        government authorities;
Whereas, on August 11, 2020, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius 
        announced that Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was safe in Lithuania and has 
        continued to be one of the strongest voices supporting the pro-democracy 
        movement in Belarus within the European Union and globally;
Whereas, on August 11, 2020, the European Union High Representative for Foreign 
        and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, issued a declaration on the 
        presidential election in Belarus stating that the elections were neither 
        free nor fair;
Whereas, on August 18, 2020, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya announced the formation of 
        a Coordination Council to oversee a resolution to the crisis in Belarus 
        and a peaceful transition of power;
Whereas, on August 19, 2020, European Council President Charles Michel announced 
        that the European Union would impose sanctions on a substantial number 
        of individuals responsible for violence, repression, and election fraud 
        in Belarus;
Whereas, on August 28, 2020, United States Deputy Secretary of State Stephen 
        Biegun declared that the August 9th election in Belarus was fraudulent;
Whereas, since the sham election on August 9, 2020, tens of thousands of 
        Belarusian citizens have participated in daily peaceful protests calling 
        for a new, free, and fair election, and the release of political 
        prisoners;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, on August 30, 2020, Belarusians held 
        one of the largest protest rallies in the country's modern history in 
        Minsk and in other cities, which was attended by at least 100,000 people 
        who demanded the resignation of President Lukashenka and an 
        investigation into the human rights violations in Belarus;
Whereas women have played a leading role in the protests, including by forming 
        peaceful solidarity chains of thousands of Belarusians symbolically 
        dressed in white;
Whereas more than 7,000 Belarusian citizens have been detained by government 
        authorities, mostly for taking part in or observing peaceful protests, 
        with many of these arrests followed by beatings and torture at the hands 
        of Belarusian law enforcement;
Whereas authorities in Belarus have consistently restricted press freedom as 
        part of the crackdown, including--

    (1) the arrest of dozens of journalists, six of whom report for Radio 
Free Europe/Radio Liberty;

    (2) blocking more than 50 news websites that were covering the 
protests;

    (3) halting the publishing of two independent newspapers; and

    (4) stripping the accreditation of journalists working for foreign news 
outlets;

Whereas internet access in Belarus has been repeatedly disrupted and restricted 
        since August 9, 2020, which independent experts and monitoring groups 
        have attributed to government interference;
Whereas after employees of state media outlets walked off the job in protest 
        rather than help report misleading government propaganda, Lukashenka 
        confirmed that he ``asked the Russians'' to send teams of Russian 
        journalists to replace local employees;
Whereas Lukashenka appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide 
        security assistance to his government, if requested, and Putin confirmed 
        that a reserve police force was ready to be deployed if ``the situation 
        gets out of control'';
Whereas the Belarus Ministry of Defense threatened to send the army to confront 
        protestors, warning that in case of any violation of peace and order in 
        areas around national monuments, ``you will have the army to deal with 
        now, not the police'';
Whereas, according to the Viasna Human Rights Centre, at least 450 detainees 
        have reported being tortured or otherwise ill-treated while held in 
        incommunicado detention for up to 10 days, including through--

    (1) severe beatings;

    (2) forced performance of humiliating acts; and

    (3) sexual violence and other forms of violence;

Whereas at least four Belarusians have been killed at protests, and dozens of 
        Belarusians who were detained during the protests are still missing;
Whereas, on or around September 6, 2020, the opposition leader, Maria 
        Kalesnikava, and members of the Coordination Council, including Anton 
        Ronenkov, Ivan Kravtsov, and Maxim Bogretsov, were detained by 
        authorities who sought to forcibly expel them to Ukraine;
Whereas opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova tore up her passport at the 
        Ukrainian border in a successful effort to prevent this expulsion, 
        subsequently disappeared, and was discovered in a Minsk prison on 
        September 9, 2020;
Whereas the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, done at New 
        York December 19, 1966, was ratified by Belarus in 1973, guaranteeing 
        Belarusians the freedom of expression and the freedom of association; 
        and
Whereas, in 2006, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13405, titled 
        ``Blocking Property of Certain Persons Undermining Democratic Processes 
        or Institutions in Belarus'', which authorized the imposition of 
        sanctions against persons responsible for--

    (1) undermining democratic processes in Belarus; or

    (2) participating in human rights abuses related to political 
repression in Belarus:

Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) finds that--
                    (A) the elections held in Belarus on August 9, 
                2020, were neither free nor fair; and
                    (B) the results announced by the Central Election 
                Commission of the Republic of Belarus are invalid;
            (2) stands in solidarity with the people of Belarus, 
        including human rights defenders, bloggers, and journalists, 
        who are exercising their right to freedom of assembly, freedom 
        of expression, and rule of law;
            (3) recognizes the leading role of women in the peaceful 
        protests and pro-democracy movement in Belarus;
            (4) condemns the unrelenting crackdown on, arbitrary 
        arrests of, and violence against peaceful protesters, 
        opposition leaders, human rights activists, and independent 
        media by authorities in Belarus;
            (5) condemns the unjustified detention and forced or 
        attempted expulsion of members of the Coordination Council in 
        Belarus;
            (6) demands the release of all political prisoners and 
        those arrested for peacefully protesting, including those 
        arrested before the August 9, 2020, election;
            (7) applauds the commitment by foreign diplomats in Minsk 
        to engage with Coordination Council member and Nobel Laureate, 
        Svetlana Alexievich, and encourages an ongoing dialogue with 
        her and with other leaders of the democratically oriented 
        political opposition in Belarus;
            (8) calls on the Government of Belarus to uphold its human 
        rights obligations, including those enumerated in the 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
            (9) calls on the United States Government to impose 
        targeted sanctions, in coordination with the European Union and 
        other international partners, against officials in Belarus who 
        are responsible for--
                    (A) undermining democratic processes in Belarus; or
                    (B) participating in human rights abuses related to 
                political repression in Belarus;
            (10) encourages the United States Government to continue 
        working with its partners in Europe, particularly the 
        Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, to 
        support the people of Belarus; and
            (11) supports--
                    (A) the continued territorial integrity of Belarus; 
                and
                    (B) the right of the Belarusian people to determine 
                their future.
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