In the past week, it was reported that one of the figureheads of the Belarusian opposition, Andrei Sannikov, 58, was released from prison by the authorities. The move appears to have been prompted by new sanctions imposed upon the country by the European Union (“EU”). The sanctions include the imposition of travel bans and asset freezes on high ranking public officials and leading businessmen due to concerns over human rights abuses and violations in the country.
Diplomatic spat
The sanctions followed a diplomatic spat between the EU and Belarus early this year, when EU pressure on the Belarusian government escalated into tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions. The ‘tiff’ resulted in the expulsion of the EU ambassador from Belarus. The Belarusian government also recalled its own envoy from Brussels. These actions followed EU imposed sanctions on 21 Belarussian judges and police officers. In response, the 27 countries which comprise the EU all agreed to withdraw their own ambassadors on a temporary basis.
The elections
Sannikov, who was the country’s former deputy foreign minister and a leading presidential candidate, was sentenced to five years in prison last year for his part in mass protests that followed President Alexander Lukashenko's re-election for a fourth term in December 2010. In the elections which were widely criticised by Western, foreign observers and neutrals as mostly fraudulent, Lukashenko was voted back into power collating 80% of the votes cast during the elections. Unsurprisingly the country’s closest ally, Russia, declared the elections as free and fair. The aftermath of the elections is best remembered for the government’s brutal and relentless crackdown on opposition figures and protesters who took to the streets to voice their displeasure at the disputed election results. Notably, several opposition politicians and activists were detained at these rallies organised against the government and jailed afterwards, although some have since been released.
Europe’s last dictator
Lukashenko, also widely referred to as ‘Europe’s last dictator’ rules a country which has the dubious reputation of being the only nation on the European continent which still utilises the death penalty as a means of punishment for some crimes. Lukashenko, an autocratic leader in power since 1994, is also responsible for the country’s movement away from the EU and its warm embrace with the Russian republic with whom it has a symbiotic relationship with in terms of the financial support and cheap energy it receives in return for regional support. Needless to say the country’s relationship with the EU has been at its lowest ebb since the aforementioned crackdown on political opposition following protests against Lukashenko's re-election in December 2010.
The Future
The country, independent since August 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, has hardly made the progress which its neighbours such as Poland and Ukraine have made since the disintegration of the Union. Its vital statistics compare unfavourably when pitted against its neighbours hence the country having to run ‘cap in hand’ to the International Monetary Fund with a request for a financial rescue package in 2011.
One should not be deceived that the latest release of Sannikov will signal a change in the government’s relationship with opposition groups as Lukaskenko’s hand was forced by recent EU sanctions coupled with fears of the unknown, that being the potential imposition of further sanctions against the government and the complete ostrasization of the country from the global forum.
Unfortunately reports of human rights activists and presidential candidates being beaten up, unjustly jailed, or ‘disappeared’ for merely having the audacity to challenge the self-confessed authoritarian’s rule are still to be expected. What is however clear is that the Belarusian opposition have shown time and again courage and brevity similar to that displayed only recently by those who led the ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions, to topple Lukashenko’s Russian-propped regime.
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