BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/04/2006

Foreign Ministry demands immediate release of Milinkevich

Prague- The Czech Foreign Ministry condemned the arrest of Belarussian opposition leader Alyaksandar Milinkevich and three other representatives of the opposition who were sentenced to 15 days in prison for the participation in an unauthorised demonstration, its press department said.

The ministry demanded the immediate release of the representatives of the democratic opposition and other political prisoners who are serving their sentences across Belarus.

Police detained the unsuccessful presidential candidate Milinkevich on Thursday in the editorial office of a local magazine where he came to give the planned interview.

According to Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, the detention is an "absolutely unacceptable act" from the regime of president Alexander Lukashenko.

The European Union and the NATO foreign ministers denounced the incident on Thursday.

"We consider it unacceptable that the representatives of the Belarussian democratic forces were sentenced to administrative sentences for taking part in the allowed by the state commemorative ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl tragedy the scale and the consequences of which had marked the entire world for many decades," the Foreign Ministry press section says.

The statement stresses that given the nature of the Belarussian regime the incident was not surprising since it only confirmed that although the Belarussian leadership cites the valid laws it is political reasons that are the real motivation of its acts that have nothing in common with a law-abiding state.

"It has been confirmed that the official Minsk continues to grossly violate the legitimate rights of its own citizens and that it is leading the country to the deadlock of international isolation with its uncivilised policy. It provokes the feeling of tension and fear among its own citizens. Its outrageous trampling on international standards can in its consequences only provoke a tougher approach by international community towards the political leadership of Belarus," the Foreign Ministry says in its statement.

On Wednesday, Milinkevich attended in Minsk the meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe in the Ukrainian town of Chernobyl.

Police did not allow the opposition demonstrators to gather on the October Revolution square that became in March the venue of mass protests against the re-election of Lukashenko as Belarussian president.

The demonstrators, whose number is estimated to reach 10,000, gathered therefore in front of the Academy of Sciences building where Milinkevich addressed them with a speech, in the violation of the authorities' warning against taking part in the ceremony.

He said that he would launch the process aimed at ousting Lukashenko, and called for the participation in other meeting to mark May Day.

The meeting was authorised, but the police banned the march.

Source:

http://www.ctk.cz/english/services/english/index_view.php?id=185550