{"id":51214,"date":"2022-08-09T08:42:10","date_gmt":"2022-08-09T15:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=51214"},"modified":"2022-08-09T10:42:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T17:42:35","slug":"promoting-accountability-on-the-second-anniversary-of-the-fraudulent-election-in-belarus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=51214","title":{"rendered":"Promoting Accountability on the Second Anniversary of the Fraudulent Election in Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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08\/09\/2022 08:37 AM EDT<\/div>\n
\n

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State<\/p>\n

On the second anniversary of the\u00a0presidential election in Belarus, we commend the Belarusian people who showed up in record numbers to cast their ballots, exercise their rights, and determine their own future.\u00a0 When it was clear the election had been stolen\u00a0by the Lukashenka regime, the Belarusian people bravely took to the streets, with reports of hundreds of thousands of people amassing to peacefully demand free and fair elections and a democratic transition.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0Belarusian people have demonstrated remarkable resilience in sustaining the pro-democracy movement for two years at great personal sacrifice.\u00a0\u00a0These calls for democracy are voiced by Belarusians exiled abroad, over 1,200 political prisoners unjustly detained inside the country, and countless ordinary Belarusian\u00a0citizens.<\/p>\n

Their peaceful calls for democracy have been met with unprecedented brute force and a consolidated crackdown by the Lukashenka regime.\u00a0\u00a0In response to the regime\u2019s abuses and in support of the Belarusian people, we have\u00a0taken numerous steps\u00a0in\u00a0the past two years, including\u00a0expanding sanctions authorities\u00a0and deploying significant sanctions actions against the Belarusian regime for its undemocratic and destabilizing behavior and human rights abuses, among other things.<\/p>\n

Today we are announcing\u00a0steps to impose visa restrictions on 100 regime officials and their affiliates for their involvement in undermining or injuring democratic institutions or impeding the transition to democracy in Belarus, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 8015.\u00a0 These individuals include those holding high-ranking positions in the Administration of the President, Ministry of Interior, State Security Committee (KGB), the Central Election Commission, the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office, Central Office of the Investigative Committee, Ministry of Transport and Communication,\u00a0 Main Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime and Corruption (GUBOPiK), the National State TV and Radio Company \u201cBelteleradio,\u201d the Second National Television Station, and the Air Force and Air Defense Forces.\u00a0 They also include members of Parliament, district judges, security officials, members of executive committees, and state university administrators.\u00a0 Individuals subject to the proclamation have been implicated in torture; violent arrests of peaceful protesters; raids of homes and offices of journalists, members of the opposition, and activists; coerced confessions; electoral fraud; politically motivated sentences of political prisoners; expulsion of students for\u00a0participation in peaceful protests; passage of legislation impacting the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms; and acts of transnational repression.<\/p>\n

Since the fraudulent\u00a02020\u00a0election, the State Department has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on a total of 297 individuals under PP8015 for undermining democracy in Belarus.<\/p>\n

In addition, the State Department is announcing the designations pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2022,\u00a0of\u00a0Mikalai\u00a0Karpiankou, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Commander of the Internal Troops, and\u00a0Dzmitriy\u00a0Balaba, Commander of the Special Task Police Force (OMON) of the Minsk City Executive Committee of Internal Affairs, for involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely the arbitrary detention of peaceful protesters.<\/p>\n

Balaba\u00a0and\u00a0Karpiankou\u00a0played a significant role in the repression surrounding the fraudulent August 9,\u00a02020\u00a0presidential election, in which thousands were violently detained and subjected to abuses for exercising human rights and fundamental freedoms, including through peacefully protesting. Today\u2019s action expands existing restrictions on\u00a0Karpiankou\u00a0and\u00a0Balaba\u00a0to include visa restrictions against their immediate family members, including\u00a0Karpiankou\u2019s\u00a0wife Irina and adult son Igor, and\u00a0Balaba\u2019s\u00a0wife Tatyana and adult sons Artem and Maksim, making them ineligible for entry into the United States.<\/p>\n

The United States stands with the people of Belarus as they pursue a democratic, sovereign, and prosperous future.\u00a0 We will continue to promote accountability for the Lukashenka regime\u2019s human rights abuses and support international efforts to document abuses and hold perpetrators to account.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

08\/09\/2022 08:37 AM EDT Antony J....<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51215,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51214\/revisions\/51215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}