German Top Diplomat Says EU Should Consider Reimposing Sanctions on Belarus

BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th August, 2020) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the European Union should consider re-imposing previously lifted sanctions on Belarus over Sunday's contentious presidential election and the subsequent fallout, media reported.

According to German news agency DPA, Maas questioned whether Brussels' gradual lifting of sanctions for an improvement in the rule of law in Belarus was still valid in light of the events of recent days.

At a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha in Berlin, Maas said there was no sign of a free election, but that "instead, we have witnessed violence, intimidation and arrest."

Maas' comments join a chorus of criticism from Germany and the EU over Belarus' treatment of protesters and the legitimacy of the electoral process.

German Government Spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday that the minimum standards of a democratic election were not met and that EU officials were studying ways to react to the situation in Belarus.

EU Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen earlier in the day hit out at the violence against protesters underway in Belarus, saying repression has no place in Europe.

Sunday's election has proved the most eventful since Belarus' independence, with many citizens mobilizing to support unlikely opposition candidates to longtime president Alexander Lukashenko. Much of the international community has expressed concern with the jailing of two major opposition candidates. Protests erupted in major towns and cities on Sunday night after the official exit poll showed Lukashenko winning by a large majority, and Monday's official figures putting Lukashenko at over 80 percent of the vote.