I wish to express my deep concern at the treatment of Andrei Klimov, Pavel Sevyarenets and Nikolai Statkevich by the authorities in Belarus. Their imprisonment for protesting against the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko provides yet another example of his regime’s disregard for human rights.

As I stated in my recent address to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the regime in Belarus remains an anachronism in Europe: we must show that we have not forgotten those people in Belarus who are yearning for the democratic freedoms that we all take for granted.

I condemn this latest affront to democratic values and call upon the international community to redouble its efforts to support those in Belarus who are seeking the democratic freedoms denied them by the Lukashenko regime.