BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
26/02/2008
German foreign minister hopes for Kozulin's final release
MINSK. Feb 26 (Interfax-West) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomes the Belarusian authorities' decision to allow Alexander Kozulin to leave the prison where he is serving his term and bury his wife, the German embassy in Moscow told Interfax.
"I have learned with satisfaction about the Belarusian authorities' decision to grant Kozulin a three-day leave, so he will be able to join his family and bury his wife, who died on Saturday. In this hard time, our hearts go out to Alexander Kozulin and his family, and we convey our condolences to them," the German embassy quotes the German foreign minister as saying in a statement.
"The Belarusian leadership's decision to grant Kozulin leave is a manifestation of humaneness and ranks with the release of five political prisoners since the beginning of the year, in which the German government had played a role," Steinmeier said. "I hope the government of the Republic of Belarus will finally and unconditionally free Alexander Kozulin, too," he said.
Irina Kozulina died in Minsk on February 23.
Jailed leader of the Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Kozulin has been given three days to bury his wife. Earlier he had gone on a hunger strike to protest the denial of permission to leave the prison to attend the funeral.
Kozulin was detained on March 25, 2006 for hooliganism and was later given 5.5 years in jail.
Source:
http://www.interfax.com/3/368740/news.aspx
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