House Republicans Ready Enhanced Sanctions Against Belarus

By Agot Deng

Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) said Monday that the U.S. and EU should work together to increase efforts to bring about democratic reform to Belarus.

Today marked the one-year anniversary of the bloody December 19, 2010 election-night crackdown in Belarus, which, in the words of Smith, “swept up more than 700 opposition supporters who dared to challenge the rule of Alexander Lukashenka.”

“The last year has been an awful one for the Belarusian people,” Smith told reporters. “The tactics employed on the infamous election night…and afterwards confirm the nature of Lukashenka’s rule — a dictatorship that perpetuates a pervasive climate of fear to squelch dissent.”

“The dictator has undertaken repressive measures on a scale and a brutality which has not been seen in Europe for more than a decade,” Smith added.

Smith called on Belarus to immediately release all of its political prisoners.

Smith and fellow House Republicans Dan Burton (Ind.) Frank Wolf (Va.) and Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.) have introduced a bill to reauthorize the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004, which has been referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and also to Committees on the Judiciary and Financial Services for consideration.

Smith and his co-sponsors would like to see the international community apply sanctions on the Government of Belarus, including economic sanctions, provision of weapons or weapons-related technologies or weapons-related training, cooperation of the Government of Belarus with any foreign government or organization for purposes related to the censorship or surveillances of the internet.

Smith has also drafted a letter to the ICC asking for the indictment of Lukashenka based on his 17 years of rule.