ЗЬМА заклікае далучыцца да адналеньня Акту аб Дэмакратыі На Беларусі!

The Honorable ………………………..

U.S. House of Representatives

Dear Representative ………………………..:

On behalf of the Belarusan-American Association, we urge you to help bring democracy to Belarus by co-sponsoring the Belarus Democracy Reauthorization Act of 2011 (H.R. 515) (a prior version of the BDRA first became law in 2004 and was reauthorized in 2006).

On December 19, 2010, another fraudulent election took place in Belarus.  Worse yet, starting that night, the regime of the reigning dictator – Alexander Lukashenka – began a brutal crackdown on those who dared to express their opinions peacefully and publicly, against another stolen election.  The crackdown entailed the beating and arrest of over 600 demonstrators, including 5 opposition presidential candidates who are now being charged with crimes.  Some candidates still remain in the KGB jail, as do many other activists; others, including several journalists, are under house arrest or otherwise are restricted in their movements.

The new bill expresses the sense of Congress that the President should deny entry into the United States to members of Belarus’ senior leadership, their business supporters and law enforcement officials involved in the crackdown.  It also expresses the sense of Congress that the President should not support loans to Belarus except for humanitarian purposes and should block certain Belarusian property transactions.  Finally, it authorizes continued support for democratic opposition and civil society groups in Belarus, including training programs for democratic activists, as well as free media broadcasting to Belarus.

The Lukashenka regime maintains a virtual media monopoly, and last year began to censor and conduct surveillance of the Internet.  The regime has raided and closed democratic opposition parties, trade unions, independent media offices, minority religious and ethnic organizations, and civil society NGOs.

The Department of State made very effective use of the sense of Congress provisions of the 2006 Belarus Democracy Reauthorization Act.  We urge that those tools again be made available, with your support.

If you would like to co-sponsor, please contact Orest Deychakiwsky ( Данный адрес e-mail защищен от спам-ботов, Вам необходимо включить Javascript для его просмотра. , 225-1901).  To view the legislation, go to: (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr515ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr515ih.pdf).

Sincerely,

Belarusan-American Association