BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/04/2008

Belarus Opposition Activist Jailed for 1-1/2 Years

Kim was convicted of attacking a policeman at a protest by small entrepreneurs denounced by President Alexander Lukashenko.

Andrei Kim, one of two Belarussian detainees considered political prisoners by Western governments, was sentenced on Tuesday to 1-1/2 years in jail for his actions at a January protest.

Kim was convicted of attacking a policeman at a protest by small entrepreneurs denounced by President Alexander Lukashenko, accused by Western countries of crushing fundamental rights.

Lukashenko, barred from entering the United States and European Union, had in the past year called for better ties with the West. But the ex-Soviet state's opposition said the sentence ended any notion of an improvement.

"Belarus is unfortunately returning to the past," veteran opposition figure Anatoly Lebedko, present when the verdict was announced, told Reuters.

"This trial was a litmus test for me. Kim's sentence is a clear signal to people in this country and its Western partners that the period of relative thaw in Belarus is over."

Lukashenko had been particularly harsh in denouncing the January protests by small entrepreneurs -- mainly market stall holders -- who said new government rules severely restricted their ability to do business.

Seven other activists from the entrepreneur movement were given suspended sentences of up to two years. Two were fined.

The president is accused by Western countries of flouting freedom of speech and assembly and hounding the small, fractious liberal and nationalist opposition in the country of 10 million. But after quarrelling with traditional ally Russia last year over energy supplies, he had sought an improvement in links with the West, particularly the 27-nation EU.

EU ambassadors welcomed the moves and said a parliamentary election due in September could help consolidate relations.

They also welcomed the early release by Belarussian courts of several jailed activists and police restraint at opposition rallies.

But relations with Washington deteriorated. The U.S. ambassador left Belarus at the urgent suggestion of authorities and staff was reduced at its Minsk embassy.

And Belarus's most prominent detainee, academic Alexander Kozulin, has remained in prison despite pleas from Western countries for his release.

Kozulin ran against Lukashenko in his 1996 bid for re-election and was sentenced to 5 1/2 years for his role in organising mass protests against official results proclaiming the president a landslide winner.

Source:

http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=142528

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