BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/04/2009

Opposition headquarters raided in Belarus

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press Law enforcement agents raided the headquarters of a prominent opposition leader in Belarus on Tuesday, seizing computers, office furniture and even kitchen cabinets they ripped from the walls. Alexander Milinkevich, who watched as marshals carried away mirrors, light fixtures and a refrigerator, said the raid would undermine the authoritarian president's recent efforts to improve ties with the U.S. and European Union. Marshals entered the rented apartment that serves as headquarters of Milinkevich's For Freedom movement in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. They seized three computers, a printer and office furniture as well as other items. The marshals brandished documents indicating they were acting on orders connected with legal matters involving the imprisoned son of its owner. Milinkevich said that was an "absurd" pretext to harass him and his opposition group. He said computers and other items confiscated belong to the movement, which he said rents and uses the apartment on entirely legal grounds. "This is a very bad signal to the EU and the United States," said Milinkevich, a pro-Western opposition leader who challenged longtime President Alexander Lukashenko in a 2006 election denounced by Western governments as illegitimate. In power since 1994, Lukashenko's treatment of critics and lack of tolerance for dissent has led some Western officials to dub Belarus "Europe's Last Dictatorship." Apparently concerned about his ex-Soviet republic's reliance on Russia, Lukashenko has made overtures to the U.S. and EU in recent months, most notably freeing several inmates considered political prisoners by the West. Milinkevich said he suspects the raid on his office was backed by pro-Russian forces within Lukashenko's government "who want to prolong Belarus' isolation and undermine dialogue with the EU and United States."

Source:

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