BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

11/04/2006

Belarus President Banned From EU

By Staff

(AXcess News) Geneva - Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is banned from entering the European Union, following a decision on Monday by the foreign ministers of the union's 25 member states, Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency reports.

Lukashenko tops a blacklist of 31 Belarus officials denied the right to enter the EU. The head of the State Security Committee, the justice minister, the prosecutor general, the speaker of parliament's lower house and the head of the presidential staff will also likely be included on the list, a source said.

EU foreign ministers are also likely to decide to freeze the accounts of Belarus officials abroad.

The European Union announced March 24 that it would impose sanctions against the country's leaders over the March 19 presidential elections, which it condemned as flawed.

The EU foreign ministers are not considering imposing trade sanctions against Belarus, diplomatic sources in Luxembourg said.

Lukashenko, whom Washington has dubbed "Europe's last dictator", was reelected to a third term in the March 19 elections with a massive 83% of the vote.

The Belarus opposition denounced the elections as fraudulent, and staged a sit-in protest on central Oktyabrskaya Square in the capital, Minsk. The rally was broken up after a few days, as was a demonstration on March 25 that saw hundreds arrested and, the opposition alleges, left at least one protestor dead.

Foreign election observers also condemned the elections. A delegation from the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose association of former Soviet republics, said the elections had been free and fair.

Source:

http://www.axcessnews.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=9032

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