releases: http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=407961
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=407961 | Smith, author of Belarus Democracy & Human Rights Act, calls on Belarus Lukashenko to step down | 2020-08-28 | 2020 | 2020-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and author of theBelarus Democracy and Human Rights Act, is calling on Alexander Lukashenko, the long-time dictator of Belarus, to step down in the wake of pro-democracy protests sparked by recent contentious elections which have been widely criticized as unfair and fraudulent. Rather than killing, rounding up and jailing his political opponents, Lukashenko needs to listen to the voices of the Belarusian people who are calling for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the freedom to change their government through free and fair elections, Smith said. For too long he has squelched these fundamental rights of the people of Belarus.Lukashenko needs to step down and allow a transitional government to manage truly free and fair elections that genuinely represent the will of the Belarusian people. A leading human rights lawmaker, Smith is the author of three laws to advance and promote democracy and human rights in Belarus: H.R. 854, theBelarus Democracy Act of 2004; H.R. 5948, theBelarus Democracy Reauthorization Act of 2006,and; H.R. 515, theBelarus Democracy Reauthorization Act of 2011. Smith's laws, which served as the forerunners for other major human rights laws known as theSergei Magnitsky Actand theGlobal Magnitsky Act(for which Smith was theprime sponsor in the House), impose personal sanctions on Lukashenko and other political leaders in his regime, including visa denials and prohibition on their ability to do any commerce with any U.S. entity.The Smith laws require Belarus to release political prisoners and transition toward democracy before the United States lifts the sanctions on Belarusian officials imposed by the laws. Smith also forewarned Russian President Vladimir Putin not to send military or police forces to prop up Lukashenko's crumbling regime, which Putin has threatened to do. It is up to the Belarusian people to decide their own future and who shall lead their country, not Vladimir Putin, Smith said. Russian interference and intervention will only fail, and in the long run, foster enmity between Belarus and the Russian Federation.Mr. Putin: Don't create another Ukraine in Belarus. Key provisions of Smith's laws to promote democracy and human rights in Belarus Smith's laws established specific economic and U.S. entry sanctions against Belarus until the President of the United States certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the government of Belarus has made progress in meeting specified conditions respecting: release of political and religious prisoners and accounting for the disappearances of opposition leaders and journalists. cessation of political harassment. prosecution of senior government leaders for embezzlement of state assets. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |