BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/04/2006

NATO condemns detention of Belarusian opposition leader

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer condemned on Thursday the detention of Belarusian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevic and demanded his immediately release.

Milinkevic has been detained by the government of President Alexander Lukashenko for taking part in a march, de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Sofia.

"This is, of course, not acceptable. It is another demonstration, I'm afraid, of a kind of anti-democratic behavior on the part of the regime," he spoke on behalf of NATO.

"I call on the regime in Minsk to release Mr. Milinkevic immediately and to refrain from this kind of actions in the future. "

He said the Euro-Atlantic community cannot accept this kind of things in the heart of Europe.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also condemned the detention of Milinkevic, which she described as "reprehensible."

"The United States roundly condemns the fact and sincerely hopes that the Belarusian government will accept the will of the international community to act in accordance with accepted international principles when it comes to the treatment of political opposition," she told a separate press conference after the first day of an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

Source: Xinhua

Source:

http://english.people.com.cn/200604/28/eng20060428_261826.html

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