BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/10/2008

EU lifts ban on Belarus president

EU has lifted the ban on Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarus president and 40 other Belarussian officials who were banned from entering the EU. Their assets had been frozen after the heavily criticised presidential election, that took place in 2006.

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) finally agreed to lift the travel restrictions on the Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko and many other Belarussian officials on Monday (October 13). The action came into force after a number of political prisoners were freed.

Earlier, more than 40 Belarussian officials were banned from entering the EU. Their assets had been frozen after the heavily criticised presidential election, that took place in 2006. The visa bans were suspended for all but five of those officials, when the EU restrictions were suspended for six months.

The officials, involved in the sudden disappearance of political prisoners and Lydia Yermoshina, the head of the central election commission of Belarus, are still banned from travelling to EU. The EU authorities will re-examine the suspension order in six months to review whether there is any progress towards democracy in the country or not.

While speaking to the media, a spokeswoman for the EU president assured that the frozen assets are safe. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU external relations commissioner, promised support to the Belarus foreign minister, Sergei Martynov on Monday (Oct 13) to encourage the process of democratic developments in the country.

The EU member-countries are committed to bring rapid democratic development in Belarus. The supporters of Lukashenko won every seat at the parliamentary polls in September. But these elections were also widely criticised by the US and other western nations.

Source:

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=144457

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