HOC: VASILY YZEPCHUK’S EXECUTION IN BELARUS SHOWS ITALIAN GOVERNMENT IS INCONSISTENT IN PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS

March 24, 2010: Hands Off Cain secretary Sergio D’Elia and Elisabetta Zamparutti, Radical parliamentarian and HOC treasurer, presented a parliamentary question on the case of Vasil Yuzepchuk (http://documenti.camera.it/leg16/resoconti/assemblea/html/sed0237/stenografico.htm). regarding the executions in Belarus, they commented:
“The execution of Vasil Yuzepchuk and Andrei Zhuk shows the dramatic need for a change in Italian foreign politics.
A few months ago, Berlusconi became the first head of a European Government to officially visit Belarus since 1997, the year in which the country was suspended by the Council of Europe for violations of human rights and practicing the death penalty.
Our Foreign Affairs Minister Frattini, a proclaimed advocate of Lukashenko in Europe (not withstanding his visit to Minsk), was “greeted” by the confirmation of Vasil’s death sentence by the Supreme Court.
On a bilateral level the two countries have signed economic-commercial accords, however Italy made no request to Minsk to respect human rights and much less suspend the death penalty.
On the internal level, the same as on the international level, Berlusconi and his Government displayed no concern for the principles of the state of rights.
This distances us from Europe, who in condemnation of Vasil Yuzepchuk’s execution, affirmed that “when it comes to the value of human rights and democracy, compromises will not be made.” (Sources: HOC, 24/03/2010)