BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/05/2006

Belarusian opposition leader released

YURAS KARMANAU

Associated Press

MINSK, Belarus - The Belarusian opposition leader sentenced to 15 days in jail for taking part in an unsanctioned rally was released on Friday, and he defiantly rallied his supporters with a call to fight for "a new Belarus."

Police delivered Alexander Milinkevich to his home several hours before his scheduled release - apparently in an effort to prevent him from meeting with supporters who gathered outside the jail around the time they expected him to be freed.

Milinkevich, 58, returned to the jail later and spoke to about 100 supporters outside, ignoring police warnings that their gathering was not sanctioned. "Even jail cannot deprive a truly free person of liberty," Milinkevich said.

Milinkevich, who ran unsuccessfully against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in March, has been a unifying figure for an opposition that incorporates widely diverse forces ranging from democrats to Communists.

"We are fighting not against Lukashenko but for a new Belarus," Milinkevich said outside the jail.

The election, which the opposition and Western governments condemned as fraudulent, sparked unprecedented mass protests in this tightly controlled nation of 10 million. The protests in turn resulted in a wave of opposition detentions.

About 30 opposition activists still remain in custody, according to the Vyasna human rights group.

Lukashenko, often described by Western countries as "Europe's last dictator," has been in power since 1994.

Also Friday, the Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an end to all subsidies to Belarus, a move that would have a serious effect on the country's economy and likely weaken Lukashenko.

About 75 percent of Belarus' economy is under state control, and the low prices that Russia has charged for oil and gas have been key to keeping the economy going.

Source:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/14567866.htm