WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2021) Poland will advise Lithuania and Latvia to impose joint economic sanctions against Minsk over the recent events with the Union of Poles in Belarus (ZPB), Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.
"I will offer our Lithuanian and Latvian partners to impose certain restrictions in trade, so that the Belarusian authorities really feel that the fight against the Poles should affect our response � not only with diplomatic steps, but also with specific economic steps," Morawiecki said at a press conference.
The prime minister called on the Belarusian authorities to "take a grip of themselves."
The European Union has also issued a statement on Thursday condemning the targeting of ZPB and demanding immediate release of all detained activists.
"The European Union expects Belarus to uphold its international commitments to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. We call on Belarus to release Ms Andzelika Borys and Mr Andrzej Poczobut immediately and unconditionally, along with all political prisoners currently detained," Josep Borrell, EU Vice-President, said in the official press release.
Earlier this week, ZPB leader Andzelika Borys was detained in Belarus and was later sentenced to 15 days in custody for violating rules related to organizing mass events. Earlier in the day, the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus opened a criminal case against Borys and several other individuals for deliberate actions aimed at inciting ethnic hatred and for rehabilitation of Nazism.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the individuals who have been presenting themselves as ZPB members have held several illegal mass events with the participation of minors in Grodno and other Belarusian cities, attracting minors to honor the participants of anti-Soviet gangs that acted during and after World War II, committing robberies and murders of the civilian population in Belarus.
