Belarusian Foreign Ministry Points To Deaths In German Prisons, George Floyd Murder In US

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry, in its report on human rights violations in Western countries on Wednesday, pointed to frequent deaths in German prisons, as well as to the murder of an African-American man, George Floyd, during an arrest in the United States

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2021) The Belarusian Foreign Ministry, in its report on human rights violations in Western countries on Wednesday, pointed to frequent deaths in German prisons, as well as to the murder of an African-American man, George Floyd, during an arrest in the United States.

Earlier in the day, the press service of the foreign ministry said that Minsk had resumed the preparation of reports on the most glaring cases of human rights violations in the West. The newest report concerns 21 states, including the US, several EU countries, Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom, which previously introduced economic and political sanctions against Belarus.

While reviewing the human rights situation in Germany, the report says that according to the statistics of Council of Europe, an average of 11.8 people die in German prisons for every 10,000 prisoners. Compared to the other 46 member states of the Council of Europe, this figure is higher only in France with 12.6 prisoners per every 10,000 inmates and Austria with 12.3. It is reported that the circumstances of death usually remain unclear, but they are increasingly associated with misconduct on the part of prison staff.

"In July 2020, prisoner Ferhat Mayouf in Berlin's Moabit prison was knocking on the door of his burning cell and calling for help for several minutes. The guards did not respond in any way to his calls as well as to the calls of other prisoners though they were not far from his cell. When the cell door was opened, the 38 year old Algerian was already dead," the report said.

It also describes in detail the cases of protest dispersal in the EU countries, including peaceful ones, with the use of force and special equipment in Austria, Belgium, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, mentioning the restriction of media activists' freedom by the police and mass arrests of demonstrators in the UK.

As for the United States, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry points out that the American criminal justice system is rife with racial discrimination at all stages.

"The United States currently imprisons over two million people, who make up a shocking 22 % of the global prison population, and 60 % are people of colour and ethnic minorities," the report says.

In addition, it describes in detail the situation with the arrest of Floyd in 2020.

"His treatment by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department constituted torture resulting in his extrajudicial execution," the authors of the report said.

Belarus has been subject to Western sanctions for allegedly undermining the democratic process and violating human rights. The Belarusian government is being criticized for disregarding the freedoms of speech, press, religion, and association, as well as inconsistencies between law and court rulings. The 2008 US State Department report demonstrated the subservience of the Belarusian courts to the administration of President Alexander Lukashenko and the private interests of his inner circle, to such an extent that the "courts" in Belarus exist in name only.

Demonstrations that took place in Belarus in 2020 in the context of the presidential election were also seen as a catalyst for the most egregious crackdown on the opposition, freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association in Belarus' post-independence history.