BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/02/2008

While Journalist Describes Release As Part Of "Political Campaign"

Alyaksandr Zdzvizhkou, whose prison sentence was reduced by the Supreme Court on February 22 from three years to three months and who was released the same day, has said that his release was a part of the government's political campaign to free political prisoners, Belapan reported. "The article under which I was convicted and the proceedings in particular were purely political and that is why my release also was part of a political campaign for the release of political prisoners," he said. Zdzvizhkou was sentenced on January 18 for publishing cartoons displaying the Prophet Muhammad in the independent newspaper "Zhoda" in 2006. The court found him guilty of "inciting racial, national, or religious enmity or discord." The Supreme Court then drastically shortened his sentence, taking into account his health problems and the poor health of his elderly mother. Because Zdzvizhkou was arrested in November 2007 and held in a pretrial detention center since then, the court also ruled that he had already served his shortened sentence. Zdzvizhkou told RFE/RL's Belarus Service that the three-year term would have destroyed him in both a physical and mental sense. AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/02/3-cee/cee-250208.asp

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