Today, on 19.08.2020, the Coordination Council held its first meeting.
The meeting resulted in the adoption of a very important document: the Resolution.
In the Resolution, members of the Coordination Council state that it is necessary to:
- End political persecution of citizens of the Republic of Belarus by the authorities, to open criminal cases against those responsible, and to bring perpetrators to justice.
- Release all political prisoners, make all illegal court decisions null and void, and provide monetary compensation to all victims.
- Proclaim the elections held on August 9, 2020 to be null and void. Conduct new elections in accordance with the international standards, with newly formed election commissions, including the Central Commission.
The Resolution also states that, until new elections are called for and until other demands are met, Belarusian people will continue to exercise their civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution, in order to restore legality and justice, namely:
- the right to work and the right to strike,
- the prohibition of forced labor (Article 41 of the Constitution);
- the right to peaceful gatherings (Article 35 of the Constitution);
- the right to judicial protection (Article 60 of the Constitution);
- the right to free expression of opinions and beliefs (Article 33 of the Constitution);
- the right to receive full and reliable information (Article 34 of the Constitution);
- the right to dispose of one’s property (Article 13 of the Constitution
You can find the full text of Resolution HERE.
In addition, the members elected the Board of the Council. What procedure did they follow? During the meeting, each of the members of the Council put forward candidates they would like to see on the Board (choosing from among the Council members). Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s suggestions regarding Board membership were also taken into account. As a result, 14 candidates were nominated. Then the Council voted to elect 7 Board members.
The Council elected the following members of the Board:
- Sviatlana Aleksievich, writer, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
- Liliya Vlasova, international mediator, lawyer
- Siarhei Dyleuski, representative of the Minsk Tractor Works strike committee
- Maksim Znak, lawyer, solicitor
- Volha Kavalkova, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s authorized representative
- Maria Kalesnikava, coordinator of Viktar Babaryka’s campaign headquarters
- Pavel Latushka, former Minister of Culture, Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary
The members of the Council also formed six working groups for the most pressing issues facing our society today: human rights violations and acts of violence committed during peaceful demonstrations; problems of the regions; conducting strikes; outreach to the authorities / the elites / the youth; falsifications during the preceding presidential election; communication; and values of the Belarusian society.
Stay tuned for updates! We will keep in touch.
