BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
26/02/2008
US urges Belarus to free opposition leader
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House urged the government of Belarus on Monday to immediately release jailed opposition leader Alexander Kozulin and denounced its refusal to let him attend his wife's funeral.
"The United States deplores the Belarussian regime's incomprehensible refusal to release political prisoner Alexander Kozulin during the days leading up to and following the death of his wife, Irina Kozulina, on February 23," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.
"We reiterate our call for Mr. Kozulin's immediate release," Perino said.
Kozulin declared a hunger strike Sunday after prison authorities denied his request to attend the funeral. He has accused the country's authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko of being responsible for his wife's death.
Kozulin, the opposition candidate in Belarus' 2006 election, was arrested in a protest against Lukashenko's re-election that year and sentenced to five and a half years for "hooliganism."
"Due to his unjust imprisonment, Mr. Kozulin was also unable to join the other leaders of the unified democratic opposition of Belarus when they met with President (George W.) Bush in the Oval Office on December 6," Perino said.
"President Bush extends his condolences to Alexander Kozulin and to the Kozulins' daughters, Olga and Yuliya, on the death of their wife and mother." she said.
"Irina Kozulina was an indomitable advocate in her own right for freedom in Belarus and she will be missed."
Source:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080226/usa/belarus_opposition_politics_us_1
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