The leaders of the European Union member states have ruled that the presidential elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair.
President of the European Council Charles Michel announced this in a statement after the conclusion of an emergency EU summit held on Aug. 19 and dedicated to the political crisis in Belarus.
“We don’t accept impunity,” Michel said.
The EU will impose sanctions on “a substantial number” of individuals responsible for violence, repression and election fraud in Belarus, said Michel.
It will also allocate 53 million euros to support the victims of police brutality, Belarusian civil society and the free press.
According to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, 2 million euros from that sum will be allocated to the victims of “unacceptable state violence.” An additional 1 million euros will be transferred to the representatives of civil society and the country’s independent media covering the situation in Belarus.
The remaining 50 million euros will be transferred as part of a coronavirus relief package and will be given to hospitals for medical procurement, to social services and to medium and small enterprises.
The EU will also provide political and diplomatic support to the Belarusian people.
“We are ready to accompany a peaceful democratic transition of power in Belarus,” said von der Leyen.
The protests in Belarus started on Aug. 9, as a response to electoral fraud committed during the presidential election.
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The protesters in Belarus have faced unprecedented brutality from the local riot police and special forces of the Belarusian security agency, still called the KGB.
To suppress the protests, they fired rubber bullets, hurled flash grenades and used water cannons. Multiple amateur videos shared online show riot police ganging up on unarmed individual demonstrators and beating them with truncheons.
At least four people were killed by the police, hundreds were injured and over 7,000 were detained.
Those detained were held for days without official charges and faced torture in captivity. Protesters released from jails say they were beaten, denied medical assistance and kept in horrendous conditions without the right to make a phone call.
