Павел Латушко и Владимир Остапенко. Фото: Lookby.media
Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet and Coordination Council member Pavel Latushka and the United Transitional Cabinet’s representative for European cooperation Uladzimir Astapenka met in Strasbourg with Monaco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Isabelle Berro-Amadeï. Monaco currently holds the chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, with Berro-Amadeï serving as its chair.
Latushka told Reform.news that one of the main topics of the meeting was the human rights situation and political prisoners in Belarus. He also briefed Berro-Amadeï on efforts to hold Aliaksandr Lukashenka criminally accountable under international law, including materials concerning alleged crimes against humanity and the involvement of Belarusian authorities in the unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children.
The creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine was also discussed. According to Latushka, representatives of Belarus’s democratic forces had previously proposed including provisions in the tribunal’s founding documents that could provide a legal basis for holding Lukashenka accountable in the future for complicity in the aggression against Ukraine.
Latushka told the minister that Belarusian initiatives were continuing to collect relevant materials with the intention of submitting them to prosecutors of the special tribunal.
Another topic, according to Latushka, was the return of Ukrainian children unlawfully transferred to Belarus and Russia. He said Berro-Amadeï noted that the return of Ukrainian children was a focus of Monaco’s attention and spoke positively of the work of Belarus’s democratic forces in this area. On September 16, the PACE Parliamentary Network on the Situation of Children of Ukraine held a special hearing with representatives of the United Nations, Ukrainian authorities, the International Criminal Court and other organizations.
The meeting also addressed the strategy proposed by the United Transitional Cabinet for resolving Belarus’s domestic political crisis. Latushka said he presented an approach that included holding a roundtable. He noted that this approach had received the support of a majority of the Coordination Council and the New Belarus Conference, held in Warsaw in August.
The parties also discussed sanctions policy. Latushka said the democratic forces supported the use of U.S. sanctions pressure to secure the release of political prisoners, but believed that efforts should seek not only releases but also an end to repression as a whole.
According to Latushka, Berro-Amadeï agreed on the need to stop the “conveyor belt” of repression and noted that Monaco was joining the European Union’s sanctions against Russia and the Lukashenka regime.
The conversation also covered the participation of representatives of Belarus’s democratic forces in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Latushka said Berro-Amadeï stressed the importance of representatives of Belarus once again having the opportunity to participate officially in PACE proceedings.
Pavel Latushka also noted that the meeting had personal significance for him. During his diplomatic service, he was the first Belarusian ambassador to Monaco to present credentials and initiated and took part in establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.