13 August, 2020, 15:25, TUT.BY
The ambassadors of the EU countries, representatives of the US embassy and other states left floral tributes to the spontaneous memorial at Pushkinskaya metro station, where a participant in the protests died on Thursday, at 15:00. Widespread protests have not stopped since August 9 when the presidential elections in Belarus were held.
People greeted the ambassadors with applause and shouted ‘Thank you!’ and ‘Dziakuj!’( ‘Thank you!’ in the Belarusian language).
We, the ambassadors of the European Union, and I, as the head of the EU mission, mourn the deaths that have already taken place in Belarus. We came here to express our solidarity with the victims of violence that we see in different cities of your country. We appeal to the Belarusian authorities to allow people exercising their right to peaceful protest. We call for the release of those who have been illegally detained. A meeting of the Council of the European Union will take place tomorrow. EU foreign ministers will make decisions regarding Belarus, said Dirk Schuebel, head of the EU Delegation to Belarus.
The ambassadors have also published an open letter. The ambassadors have thanked all the independent observers whom they met during the presidential elections, mostly outside the polling stations.
‘We applaud those heads of polling stations who ensured a fair vote count, all the citizens and voters who demonstrate their desire for free and fair elections.’
Ambassadors stated that at some of the few polling stations they have attended, they have witnessed:
— lack of transparency in the process with limited access provided to them as observers at polling stations;
— numerous violations and serious problems that have caused suspicion of severe falsification of the election results.
‘We declare that:
— the Central Election Commission of Belarus officially accredits us as international observers;
— our activity was aimed at collecting necessary information and forming a general idea about the conduct of elections;
— in the absence of an OSCE / ODIHR election observation mission, our conclusions and observations were extremely limited and only partial by their nature, and therefore they are not enough to formulate an overall assessment of the electoral process quality.’
