John Shimkus: “I was fortunate to be part of a foreign observer team to observe the failed Presidential elections in Belarus on March…”

“I was fortunate to be part of a foreign observer team to observe the failed Presidential elections in Belarus on March 19. Why was it a failure? One, because about 400 political activists were arrested prior to the election. There was prevoting that no one could account for and credit as being valid. I attended with a colleague of mine from Portugal, a member of Parliament, Suarez, and at the end of the evening after visiting 19 precincts, we were not allowed to see the ballots, nor were we allowed to observe the counting of the ballots. There was also no ability for the opposition candidates to campaign and get time on the state-sponsored TV station. Why is this important, and why do I bring this up today? Well, after the election there was a rally in Oktyabrskaya Square, and this is a photo from one, a protester with a banned flag. There were over 10,000 folks that rallied at this square, many of them staying in the evening through the next day over a period of weeks until the regime finally got fed up, which resulted in a crackdown of the protesters and imprisonment of, and I think there were about 685 on this list, 700 political activists who were jailed for protesting a failed election and rallying for the cause of freedom and democracy and the rule of law.…”