LONDON, May 5. /TASS/. The Group of Seven is urging Belarusian authorities to organize new presidential elections with international observers and release everyone who the club believes to be unfairly imprisoned, reads the joint statement adopted on Wednesday following the first in-person meeting of top diplomats of the G7 countries in two years.
"We call on the regime [of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko] to implement the recommendations resulting from the OSCE’s independent expert mission, release all those who have been unjustly incarcerated for expressing their democratic aspirations, and end the ongoing repression of human rights and fundamental freedoms," the document notes. "We are committed to supporting the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people and to holding those responsible for human rights violations to account."
"We denounce the continuing repression of journalists and human rights defenders, and call on the regime to respect the right to peaceful assembly. We further call on the regime to enter into meaningful dialogue with all sectors of society, including genuine leaders of the opposition and civil society, and to accept the OSCE Chair’s offer of mediating such a dialogue as the means to resolve the political crisis. We call on the regime to hold new, free and fair elections conducted under international observation," the statement says.
Belarus held presidential elections on August 9, 2020. According to the Central Election Commission’s official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide. His closest rival in the race, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, came in second, but refused to accept the result of the election and fled Belarus. After the results were announced, mass protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other Belarusian cities. During the early post-election period, the rallies snowballed into fierce clashes between the protesters and police. Sporadic local protests continue to date.
The G7 meetings were held in London between May 2 and 5 under the UK Presidency and involved representatives of the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, the US, France and Japan as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The statement adopted on Wednesday serves as a basis for the declaration of the G7 leaders who will meet Carbis Bay, Cornwall in the UK between June 11 and 13.