Belarusian delegate forced to leave PACE’s meeting

A special resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is going to be prepared by January 2013, Andres Herkel, the PACE member fr
om Estonia, told during the meeting of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy in Strasbourg, RFE/RL reports.

"Drafting the document will start in November. It is highly possible it will be finished by January of the next year," he told.

According to Mr. Herkel, the PACE should pay special attention to the analysis of the parliamentary elections in Belarus.

"Our previous report on this topic was issued in early 2012. We’re sorry the human rights situation deteriorated so significantly."

"Now there are 12 political prisoners in Belarus,” he noticed. “The condition of health of several of them is alarming."

Chairperson of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Alieh Hulak and deputy head of closed by authorities human rights centre Viasna Valiancin Stefanovich participated in the open PACE session.

However, a scandal occurred at the meeting as the official representative of Belarusian government was forced to leave the meeting hall due to absence of the invitation.

Belarusian Foreign Ministry does not comment the incident somehow.