WASHINGTON – .S. Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) today described Belarus’ election as a farce. “The detention of hundreds of opposition activists in advance of Sunday’s voting in Belarus has deprived opposition campaigns of their leaders, further contributing to a climate of fear in that country. Newspapers have been seized. An early voting system is in full force in which people are being pressured to vote for the regime. International observers are being detained, denied visas or turned away at the border. Belarus’ KGB chief is engaging in hysterical threats that protests will be viewed as ‘terrorism’ and Lukashenka is threatening to ‘break the neck’ of dissent. These are all indications of a regime terrified of its own people and that has no intention of conducting a free and fair vote,” concluded Chairman Brownback. “Once again, Lukashenka is taking no chances and tightening his grip as Europe’s last dictator.”
