BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/08/2006

EU Demands Immediate Release of Election Monitors Jailed in Belarus

MosNews

The European Union on Friday demanded the immediate release of four Belarusian election monitors who were sentenced last week to prison terms of up to two years for being members of an unregistered organization, The Associated Press reports.

The arrest of the four members of the U.S.-financed Partnership monitoring group in February thwarted the group's plans to deploy independent observers at Belarus' March 19 presidential elections, which the EU and the United States denounced as rigged.

At a closed-door trial, the Minsk Central Court last Friday sentenced Nikolai Astreiko, the head of Partnership, to two years in prison. Activist Timofei Dranchuk was sentenced to one year while Enira Bronitskaya and Alexander Shalaiko received six months.

The EU said in a statement it "notes with regret that the Belarusian authorities continue to intimidate civil society activists and to demonstrate unwillingness to respect international standards in democracy and human rights." It said the sentencing of the four and the July conviction of an opposition presidential candidate, Aleksandr Kozulin, "clearly indicate further erosion of the democratic process in Belarus." The EU also called for the immediate release of all political prisoners.

Kozulin was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for organizing a protest march, six days after the election, that was broken up by riot police who beat demonstrators with truncheons.

President Alexander Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by Washington, won another five-year term in the March vote. Lukashenko, who has ruled the nation since 1994, has quashed Belarus' independent media and jailed critics, as well as accusing Western countries of seeking to overthrow him.

The United States and EU imposed financial sanctions and a visa ban on Lukashenko and other officials following the election, citing widespread arrests and repression of opponents during and after the elections.

Source:

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/08/12/eumonitors.shtml