{"id":4527,"date":"2020-08-15T17:28:52","date_gmt":"2020-08-15T14:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zdg.md\/en\/?p=4527"},"modified":"2020-08-19T10:13:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T07:13:42","slug":"the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-expresses-its-concern-over-the-violations-in-belarus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zdg.md\/en\/the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-expresses-its-concern-over-the-violations-in-belarus\/","title":{"rendered":"Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Expresses Its Concern Over the Violence in Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration issued an official press release, announcing that the institution is closely following the evolution of the post-election situation in Belarus, being particularly concerned about the violence in that country<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 15, Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official press release, stating that the institution is concerned about the violence in Belarus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dReiterating the importance of respecting human rights and generally accepted democratic norms, we hope that people of Belarus will overcome peacefully the difficulties that appeared in recent days in a genuine and inclusive political dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these difficult times, we express our full solidarity with the people of Belarus, continuing to support the consolidation of democracy, prosperity, stability, and independence of the Republic of Belarus – a friendly country and an important traditional cooperation partner of the Republic of Moldova<\/em>,\u201d the official note issued by the Ministry claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protests against Alexander Lukashenko, who is the President of Belarus for 26 years, are on the rise. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 14, the sixth<\/strong> day of the popular protest, tens of thousands of people from Minsk and the country’s big cities took to the streets.<\/strong> After the European Union (EU) decided to impose sanctions on Belarus, Lukashenko’s political future became<\/strong> arcane. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 14, the EU approved the sanctions against the repression in Belarus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a joint letter, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Denmark called for restrictive measures against officials responsible for holding elections in Lukashenko’s re-election with about 80 percent of the vote and for violence against protesters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately after the results of the official exit poll were announced, the wave of protests in Belarus started. According to the data presented, Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, would have accumulated 79.7 percent, while the opposition candidate, Svetlana Tikhanovsky, was quoted with only 6.8 percent. The whole campaign was full of violations, and three representatives of the opposition were taken out of the race and arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On election day, several voters and journalists reported other irregularities. Huge queues formed at many polling stations, but people were only allowed access to polling stations in small groups as an anti-COVID measure19. Several ballots were also reported, which had already ticked the option under Lukashenko, but the police did not intervene at the request of a voter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n