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German human rights commissioner describes Sovetskaya Belorussiya’s allegations as drivel

Markus Loning, the German federal government’s commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian aid, told reporters in Minsk on Saturday that he regarded allegations that Germany was involved in a plot to overthrow the Belarusian government as drivel.

“This disappoints us because Germany has been very favorable to Belarus in recent years,” Mr. Loning said. “It is Germany that made an active effort to improve the relationship between Belarus and the European Union.”

Such allegations impede the development of relations, Mr. Loning noted. “I completely deny what was published in the newspaper,” he stressed.

On January 14, Belarus’ largest government newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussiya began publishing a series of articles under the headline, “Behind the Scenes of a Plot. Officially Declassified Evidence of the Events of December 19.”

The daily, which is a publication of the Presidential Administration, accused Western countries, Germany and Poland in particular, of sponsoring opposition groups in Belarus and plotting a “color revolution” in the country, which would bring a puppet leader to power.

"It is beyond any doubt that the secret services of, in the first instance, all Poland and Germany, which planned and organized the `Tell the Truth!` campaign that was meant to become a new opposition force capable of changing the government in the country, had a hand in the December 19 events," the paper said. //BelaPAN