German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Monday he would not flinch from seeking to improve human rights in Belarus after the country’s veteran president attacked him by saying it was «better to be a dictator than gay».
Alexander Lukashenko, who Westerwelle branded «Europe’s last dictator» last week, lashed out at European Union politicians on Sunday who have threatened him with further sanctions over alleged human rights abuses.
Lukashenko’s attack, reported by Belarus news agency Belta, seemed an apparent riposte to Westerwelle who is Germany’s first openly gay minister.
Westerwelle responded on Monday: «This statement speaks for itself.» He added: «I’m not going to retreat from my engagement on human rights and democracy in Belarus one a single millimetre.»
Chancellor Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert also criticised Lukashenko’s comments on Monday.
«Unfortunately (the comment) very clearly shows the position that the Belarussian president takes in relation to basic rights,» he said. «It’s interesting to find out this way that Mr Lukashenko also now classes himself as a dictator.
«That is the view that the federal government reached some time ago and on which the Belarussian president delivers proof almost daily,» he added.
Lukashenko has criticised homosexuality in the past. Last year after opposition protests against his re-election sparked a crisis with the West, he said: «They’ve started reproaching me for condemning gays. Well, I don’t like gays and I have said I don’t like gays».
European Union leaders on Friday called for new measures to pressure Lukashenko, in power since 1994, including targeting those in Belarus who are responsible for human rights violations as well as supporters of Lukashenko’s government.
The talk of more sanctions followed a diplomatic spat between the EU and Belarus last week, which escalated into tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.
buenosairesherald.com