BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07 Jun 2005 17:33:26 GMT

U.N. rights envoy condemns Belarus sentencing

Source: Reuters

GENEVA, June 7 (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights investigator on Tuesday condemned the sentencing of two prominent opposition leaders in Belarus to compulsory labour for organising a rally against President Alexander Lukashenko.

Adrian Severin, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Belarus, said their sentence of three years of restricted freedom had been cut to two years due to an amnesty linked to the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

Nikolai Statkevich and Pavel Severinets helped stage one of the ex-Soviet state's largest recent protests against Lukashenko in October after the veteran leader won overwhelming support in a referendum to enable him to prolong his stay in power. Western countries have denounced the poll as rigged.

In a statement, Severin, a Romanian lawyer appointed last year to the independent post, expressed "deep concern and strong condemnation" at the sentencing.

He also expressed concern about other political prisoners, urging the government to "secure their right to freedom of opinion and expression" in accordance with international human rights law.

Severin, whose requests to visit Belarus have been denied, told the annual U.N. Commission on Human Rights in March that Lukashenko recognised no "constitutional, legal or institutional limitation".

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has described the country of 10 million people ruled by Lukashenko since 1994 as "the last true dictatorship in the centre of Europe".

A senior U.S. official said last Friday that the U.S. government was considering freezing the assets of Belarussian officials and limiting their travel abroad to raise pressure on Belarus to allow greater freedoms.

Source:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07262671.htm