Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party), on Wednesday, 26 May 2021, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 17 members in total.

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Authoritarianism in Belarus and arbitrary detention of prisoners of conscience

That this House condemns the actions by the Belarusian authorities on 23 May 2021 which resulted in the forced landing of Ryanair flight FR4978 in Minsk and the subsequent arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich and his partner Sofia Sapega; notes that the actions of Belarus are a breach of international civil and aviation law under the Chicago Convention; is concerned that 33,000 civilians have been arbitrarily detained since the fraudulent presidential election of 9 August 2020; further notes that there are currently more than 3000 prisoners of conscience which include activists such as Paval Sevyarynets, Yauhen Afnahel and Iryna Shchastnaya; calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience in Belarus; notes that the UK is Belarus’ third-largest trading partner and that Lukashenko’s government is heavily dependent on financial flows via London; and therefore further calls on the Government to implement new sanctions against Belarus, including halting Belarus from using the London Stock Exchange and banning any UK investment into Belarus until all prisoners of conscience are released and free and fair democratic elections held in Belarus.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

114 

Session

2021-22

Other sponsors

Andrew Gwynne

Jim Shannon

Chris Law

Allan Dorans

Claire Hanna

Subjects

Arrests Aviation Elections Journalism Political prisoners Belarus Protasevich, Roman

Link

View this Early day motion on edm.parliament.uk