MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th September, 2020) The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)'s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights adopted its statement on non-recognizing the results of the Belarusian presidential election and calling for a new vote in violation of the procedure, PACE ignored Russia's stand, the head of the Russian delegation at PACE, senior lawmaker Pyotr Tolstoy said on Wednesday.
"The statement was adopted in violation of the established procedure, it ignores the stand of Russia as a member of the Council of Europe. The chairman did not even bring the issue up for vote, but said it was adopted unilaterally, although several people said they were against it. How is this possible?" Tolstoy told reporters after a session of the committee.
Tolstoy also said that the authors of the document did not cite any evidence to substantiate their claims about falsification of the election results. They also call for holding a new vote, bringing to justice those responsible for human rights violations, and creating an international investigative body to collect evidence of human rights violations in Belarus. According to Tolstoy, the body would present its conclusions to national and international law enforcement agencies that "can and want to" pursue legal action against the rights violations.
The head of the Russian delegation slammed the plan to set up such a body as "inadmissible and revolting," warning that attempts to interfere in Belarusian domestic affairs could lead to "tragic consequences" and pointing to the 2014 Ukrainian crisis.
"The political situation [in Belarus] can only be stabilized through the launch of a constructive nationwide dialogue, not external pressure and interference," Tolstoy said.
The official stressed that Belarus was not bound by any obligations in the context of the international law, since it is not a member of the Council of Europe and not a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Later in the day, Russian lawmaker and another member of Russia's PACE delegation Shamsail Saraliev told Sputnik that a new vote will be held on the statement that concerns the results of the Belarusian presidential election.
"He [committee chairman Boriss Cilevics] did not admit his mistake, but nevertheless, he promised to put this issue to a vote at the next meeting, as some colleagues left for lunch and were unable to vote," Saraliev stated.
According to the Russian lawmaker, the vote is scheduled to take place between October 12 and 15.
Incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in office at the August 9 Belarusian presidential election. Leading opposition candidates, including Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, have rejected the results of the election.
