{"id":97591,"date":"2024-07-26T12:32:34","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T09:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/97591\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"osce-group-urges-minsk-to-release-all-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/97591\/","title":{"rendered":"OSCE group urges Minsk to release political prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Sarah Crozier \/ OSCE)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

July 26, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Several political prisoners released earlier this month in Belarus represent “only a fraction of the individuals at risk,” members of the informal Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Group includes 29 out of 57 OSCE members. Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liechtenstein, Moldova, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Ukraine also aligned with its statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately release on humanitarian grounds all political prisoners facing serious health issues or chronic conditions,” they said. “We further call for the unconditional release of all 1,400 or more political prisoners held in Belarus and for an end to the harassment and targeting of their families.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OSCE members should also ensure that extradition of Belarusians to Belarus complies with international law, the statement stressed in an apparent reference to the extradition case against Andrej Hniot, a Belarusian filmmaker currently under house arrest in Serbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights defenders, media workers and opposition activists “can face particular risks in Belarus,” it noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 11, the OSCE invoked the Vienna Mechanism over serious human rights concerns in Belarus. It allows participating states, through an established set of procedures, to raise questions relating to human dimension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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OSCE asks Minsk tough questions about human rights using Vienna Mechanism<\/h3>\n
July 12, Pozirk. Thirty-eight member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have invoked the Vienna Mechanism in respect of serious human rights concerns in Belarus, including torture, physical or sexual violence, lack of basic medical care and …<\/div>\n \n