Prosecutor General’s Office Has No Proof That Results of Presidential Elections 2006 Were Rigged

On September 24 Anatoly Lebedko, chairman of the United Civil Party, and Valery Ukhnalev, leader of the Belarusian Party of Communists, delivered a petition to the Prosecutor General of Belarus Grigoriy Vasilevich, and demanded instituting criminal proceedings over Alexander Lukashenko’s statements of ballot-rigging in the 2006 presidential election.

Petition was signed by 50 well-known citizens, politicians, cultural figures including former presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin; former parliamentary speaker Mechyslaw Gryb, Sergey Kalyakin, chairman of the Party of Communists of Belarus (party "Just Peace"), opposition politicians Vintsuk Vyachorka, Viktor Ivashkevich, Jaroslav Romanchuk and Nikolay Statkevich; trade union leaders Alexander Yaroshuk and Alexander Bukhvostov; film makers Yuri Khashchavatski and Viktor Dashuk.

It should be reminded that on August, 27 in interview to Russia daily "Izvestia" the Belarusian ruler told: "I have information that 93% voted for me at he last elections. Later, when I felt pressure, I admitted that the elections had been forged. I told then: "Yes, they are forged." I ordered that the results should be about 80%, I don’t remember the exact figure, but not 93%. 90 % is difficult for perception. But this is true."

"The constitution declares that all citizens are equal before the law," the petition says. "As prosecutor general, you have got a chance to prove this. In our opinion, it would not be difficult to establish whom Alexander Lukashenko ordered to falsify the election results, who did that and how."

A response, signed by the Prosecutor General, came only in November.

Grigoriy Vasilevich noted that Prosecutor General’s Office has no documentary proof or any other information, proving that the results of the presidential elections 2006 were rigged.

We asked the chairman of the United Civil Party Anatoly Lebedko to comment on the situation.

"We asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to probe Lukashenko’s statement that the 2006 presidential election was rigged. Vasilevich was obliged to invite Lukashenko and take his explanations: to whom, when and to what purpose he gave the order to change the results. Choosing between the law and his own career, Prosecutor General chose the latter. It means that the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office did not pass the test on competency. It is the main result of the petition. And it is the answer to the question what to expect during the next presidential election."