People shout a slogan "release (from prison)" to show their solidarity with the detainees and people release balloons in colors of old Belarusian nati...
People shout a slogan "release (from prison)" to show their solidarity with the detainees and people release balloons in colors of old Belarusian national flag into the sky at a detention center during opposition rally in Minsk, Belarus, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. After the police crackdown at least 7,000 were detained by riot police, with many complaining they were beaten mercilessly. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
In this video grab provided by the Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya campaign office via the Associated Press Television, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, former cand...
In this video grab provided by the Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya campaign office via the Associated Press Television, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, former candidate for the presidential elections addresses the Belarus nation from Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020. Belarus' opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya has announced she is ready to take on the mantle of the presidency after a week of daily mass protests across the country. (Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya campaign office vis AP)
Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevicius answers questions during a meeting with the press in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Viln...
Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevicius answers questions during a meeting with the press in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. Lithuania Foreign Minister said that Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who ran for presidency in Belarus, fled to Vilnius early Tuesday to join her children and was placed in a secure location.(AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Yuri Bondar, Belarusian Minister of Culture, passes a woman holding a banner reading "Art demands freedom" in Minsk, Belarus, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. ...
Yuri Bondar, Belarusian Minister of Culture, passes a woman holding a banner reading "Art demands freedom" in Minsk, Belarus, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. Several dozen people gathered in front of the theater to support the troupe that handed in their notice to quit after the theater's director, Pavel Latushko, was fired. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania’s parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted for economic sanctions against the regime in neighboring Belarus, saying the presidential election there mustn't be internationally recognized.
“We are sending a strong message to the world today,” Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said after the 120-0 vote with two abstentions. Nineteen of the Seimas assembly's 141 members were absent.
The document adopted by lawmakers also calls for the international rejection of the legitimacy of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. Further details on the economic sanctions weren't immediately available.
Lukashenko won his sixth term in office with 80% of the votes, according to official results of the Aug. 9 election. The opposition denounced the vote as rigged and hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets across Belarus in protest.
Linkevicius added that many shocking stories of beatings and torture start to emerge from Belarus.
“What happened there is not just a human rights abuse, but also crimes that must be investigated and those responsible punished,” Linkevicius said.
Lukashenko’s top challenger, former English teacher Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, got only 10% of the vote, according to official results. But she denounced the vote as rigged, and demanded a recount. Lithuania, which is Belarus’s northern neighbor, has given her refuge.
Lithuania has a population of 2.8 million and the Baltic nation's capital, Vilnius, is located 170 kilometers (105 miles) from Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
Vilnius is a center for Belarusians in exile. The city hosts a university that Lukashenko banned. A number of Belarusian nongovernmental organizations have relocated there as well.
