BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/10/2006

Belarus opposition leader to face passport misuse charges

dpa German Press Agency

Minsk- Belarusian opposition leader Aleksander Milinkevich will face passport misuse charges carrying a penalty of two months in jail, opposition officials said Thursday. Belarusian police on Wednesday detained Milinkevich for the second time in as many weeks, shortly after he landed at Minsk airport on a flight from Riga, Latvia.

Milinkevich will be charged with leaving the country illegally by "misusing his passport," the state-controlled Bel-1 television channel reported.

"Passport misuse" is a Belarusian legal term often used to charge Belarusian citizens with crossing a border in violation of restrictions placed on them by police.

Milinkevich was held overnight and released on Thursday morning. A court date had not yet been set.

If found guilty of the charge - an almost inevitable result in authoritarian Belarus - Milinkevich could be sentenced to a maximum of two months in prison, in addition to a fine equivalent to a year's salary.

The accusation appeared to be part of a programme of increasing state pressure against the opposition leader.

During the summer Milinkevich spent two weeks under house arrest as punishment for his participation in anti-government demonstrations. Earlier this month police detained him on a traffic violation involving his vehicle, though he had not been in it at the time of the accident.

According to opposition officials, Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko is angry with Milinkevich for the opposition leader's participation in a NATO summit in Riga earlier this week.

Lukashenko, a former collective farm boss, has made no direct comment on the latest charges against Milinkevich. In past remarks Lukashenko has called him "a Western stooge," an allegation denied by Milinkevich.

Another opposition leader, Aleksander Kozulin, received a 66-month prison sentence for allegedly leading an attack on a Minsk city penitentiary in an attempt to free political prisoners. He has been on hunger strike for more than a month.

Source:

http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Belarus_opposition_leader_to_face_p_11302006.html