The European Parliament (EP) calls for expansion European Union (EU) sanctions against Belarus for forcible landing in Minsk on May 23 and detention of journalist Roman Protasevich, reports Jānis Krastiņš, Press Secretary of the European Parliament Representation in Latvia.
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In a resolution adopted on 620 votes to 16, with 36 abstentions, MEPs strongly condemnedRyanairkidnapping as an “act of state terrorism” and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapeg, as well as all other journalists and political prisoners detained in Belarus.
The resolution urges the Council to impose sanctions as soon as possible Belarusian persons and entities involved in the interception and landing of the airplane.
EU member states urgently need to start work on the next set of sanctions against those who participated in the fraudulent election elections in Belarus last year and the subsequent human rights violations, MEPs decided. They call for sanctions against prosecutors, judges and law enforcement officers involved in the persecution of critics of the regime, as well as propaganda, media and disinformation agents such as Marat Markov, who interviewed Roman Protasevich on ONT on 2 June.
In addition, MEPs call for the swift adoption and implementation of economic and sectoral sanctions against key Belarusian industries, in particular crude oil and petroleum products, potassium carbonate and steel mining and wood processing. Financial support for the regime must be strictly stopped, Belarusian banks must abandon all new credit lines and stop investing in infrastructure or businesses. European financial institutions should be prohibited from purchasing bonds or other financial instruments issued by the Belarussian government and related public authorities.
The resolution also calls for Belarus to be excluded from international sports organizations and events, including the European and World Championships and the Tokyo Olympics. MEPs also urge the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to deprive Belarusian state television TVR of the right to broadcast the forthcoming EURO 2020 football tournament and give it free of charge to independent television Belsat TV.
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