Watchdog

European Union member states have agreed to slap sanctions on Alyaksandr Lukashenka, along with 14 other Belarusian officials, in response to a brutal crackdown on postelection protests.

The green light to impose visa bans and asset freezes on Lukashenka and the 14 others was given by envoys from the EU's 27 member states on November 4 and should be confirmed in the bloc's official journal on November 6, sources say.

Lukashenka has been under pressure from constant demonstrations following a disputed presidential election nearly three months ago that the opposition says was rigged and the West has refused to accept.

Belarus's 66-year-old strongman was initially spared inclusion in the EU asset freezes and travel bans imposed last month on 40 Belarusian officials for their alleged role in the repression of protesters and the opposition, as well as fraud during the August 9 vote.

But in mid-October, EU foreign ministers gave the go-ahead in principle to prepare a new sanctions package that would include the embattled leader himself.

AFP reported that the EU is also targeting Lukashenka's son Viktar, who is an acting national-security adviser in Belarus.

Thousands of people have been arrested across Belarus since authorities declared Lukashenka the winner of the August election to give him a sixth consecutive term.

Most of the country's opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country, including presidential candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who considers herself the rightful winner of the vote.

Lukashenka is "responsible for the violent repression by the state apparatus before and after the 2020 presidential elections," according to the sanctions decision seen by AFP.

He is also being held responsible for the exclusion of opposition candidates in the vote, "arbitrary arrests and the ill-treatment of peaceful demonstrators, as well as intimidation and violence against journalists.”

The EU has denounced the August election as "neither free nor fair" and refused to recognize Lukashenka as Belarus's legitimate president.

Tsikhanouskaya told Current Time in a Skype interview on November 4 that Lukashenka's previous term was set to officially end on November 5, bringing an end to any legitimacy he could claim as a leader of the country.

"Lukashenka is losing the last element of legitimacy on November 5. And if some countries may still believe that he still has some kind of legitimacy, that now it is over too," she said

"We see how the regime is disintegrating before our very eyes; mistakes are being made. And you all know that only together we will win," Tsikhanouskaya added.

Speaking from EU-member Lithuania, where she has been living since shortly after the election following threats to her and her family, the opposition leader called on foreign leaders to give their "maximum support to the Belarusian people."

"I would like democratic countries to pay even more attention to how human rights in Belarus are infringed upon, on the violence taking place in our country. And that they talk about it and take all possible appropriate measures," she added.

With reporting by AFP

PRISTINA -- The Hague-based war crimes prosecutors in cooperation with local police and the EU's rule-of-law mission have arrested a former guerrilla leader and ex-speaker of Kosovo's parliament during a special operation that began before dawn in Pristina.

Police and investigators took Jakup Krasniqi into custody after spending about 10 hours at his home on November 4 amid silence from the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) and Specialist Prosecutor's Office (SPO) about the specifics of the Kosovar operations.

But a lawyer for Krasniqi, Vason Hasani, said the KSC had confirmed an indictment against Krasniqi and that they plan to transfer him to The Hague.

Hasani said he did not know the nature of the charges in the indictment.

Krasniqi is a onetime spokesman for the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) who rose to chair postindependence Kosovo's parliament and even spent time as acting president dating back to 2011.

A brief announcement on the website of the KSC and SPO did not explain the goals of the operations. "More information will follow in due course," it said.

The Kosovar government said it was following the conduct of the operations.

"Kosovo, the bearers of institutions, as well as its citizens have consistently set an example of respect and cooperation with local and international justice," the government in Pristina said. "The presumption of innocence must be respected in any case unless there is another decision of the competent court."

Krasniqi was questioned by SPO officials in July 2019.

His wife, Sevdije Krasniqi, told RFE/RL before the arrest that the authorities did not explain the operation and that she did not know why the investigators were at their home.

Krasniqi's political party, the Social Democratic Initiative, responded to the events by saying, "the scenes today are unnecessary and traumatic for the family," adding that Krasniqi had always complied with requests from judicial institutions.

The KSC and SPO were set up under Kosovar law outside the country to help probe possible atrocities during and after the Kosovar war of independence in 1998-99, and their operations are supported by Kosovo's police and EULEX.

They are focused on alleged crimes committed by UCK members against ethnic minorities and political rivals during Kosovo's violent separation from Serbia.

The SPO announced in June that President Hashim Thaci and other prominent Kosovars were the subject of an indictment on suspicion of serious crimes, including "nearly 100 murders," enforced disappearances, and torture.

It reportedly had less than six months to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to bring cases to trial, a deadline that appears to have expired.

Two weeks ago, The Hague offices said that "there is good reason to believe" the president had been acting as part of a "larger strategy to undercut the court."

Thaci has proposed amendments to Kosovar law that would give lawmakers there the power to extend the mandate of the KSC for another five years.

Kosovar's independence war with Serbia left more than 10,000 people dead -- most of them ethnic Albanians from Kosovo. More than 1,600 people remain unaccounted for. The fighting ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbia.

Last month the KSC and SPO made their first arrest, detaining the former head of the intelligence service of the Kosovo Security Force, Salih Mustafa, on the basis of an arrest warrant and a confirmed indictment issued by a pretrial judge of the KSC.