EU faces calls to impose sanctions on Belarus after violent police actions against protesters

AKIPRESS.COM - The Polish MEP Robert Biedroń, who chairs the European parliament's Belarus delegation, said the European Union needed to rethink its policy towards Belarus's president of 26 years, British newspaper The Guardian reports.
Official results on Monday showed that Lukashenko won 80.23% of the vote, enabling him to claim a sixth term in office and extend his decades-long grip on power. His main rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who had drawn large crowds at rallies and officially took 9.9% of the vote, said the election had been rigged.
Biedroń said the groundswell of support for the opposition was "a strong signal" to the EU to rethink its policy towards Belarus, including finding new ways to support NGOs and civil society.
"It's our responsibility as the European Union and friends of Belarus to give strong support to the opposition and friends of civil society," he noted.
In 2016 the EU lifted most sanctions against the Lukashenko regime, citing "significant, even if limited" steps in the right direction, following the release of some political prisoners.
Andrei Sannikov, who campaigns for democracy in Belarus from exile in neighbouring Poland, said that had been a grave mistake.
Sannikov, a former presidential candidate who was beaten unconscious and jailed for 16 months after running in the 2010 elections, called for EU sanctions on the Belarusian leader and key officials, including those involved in "falsified election committees".