BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/08/2006

Washington condemns conviction of election observers arrested by the Belarus KGB

The US Department of State denounced the conviction of four Belarus' independent election observers found guilty of running an unregistered organization named Partnyorstvo (Partnership).

Judge Leonid Yasinovich of the Tsentralny District Court on Friday sentenced Nikolai Astreiko to two years in a minimum security correctional institution, Timofei Dranchuk to one year, and Aleksandr Shalaiko and Enira Bronitskaya to six months each. "As we have done in the past, we will take steps to impose appropriate sanctions on those responsible for abusing the rights of these Belarusian citizens," the AFP news agency quoted State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"The politically motivated trial continues a disturbing pattern by the authorities to intimidate civil society activists and to further erode the democratic process in Belarus."

"We call on the Belarusian authorities to free the Partnership civic activists and all those being held on politically motivated charges," Mr. McCormack said. Messrs. Astreiko, Dranchuk and Shalaiko, and Ms. Bronitskaya, were found guilty of running an illegal organization that "encroaches" on people's rights under Part 2 of the Criminal Code's Article 193. The article was added to the Code in December 2005 as part of amendments that established harsh penalties "for activities directed against people and public security." The Article was added by the Belarus KGB chief. Mr. Shalaiko and Ms. Bronitskaya are to be released on August 21, as all the four young people were arrested on February 21, 2006 and have since been held in a KGB detention center, BelaPAN reported.

Source:

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1016