BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

01/11/2006

Belarus opposition activist jailed for 18 months

Source: Reuters

MINSK, Nov 1 (Reuters) - A court on Wednesday sentenced an activist opposed to President Alexander Lukashenko to 18 months on charges of joining an unregistered group, a verdict denounced as "pointless" by Belarus's most prominent opposition figure.

Dmitry Dashkevich, 25, a leader of the Young Front group, was sentenced under tough provisions adopted by the ex-Soviet state's parliament in the run-up to Lukashenko's contested re-election in March.

"This sentence is pointless and harsh," Alexander Milinkevich, one of two opposition candidates to challenge the president's re-election, said outside the courthouse.

"The authorities are afraid of young people, especially when they become organised. They are trying to intimidate people, to stop them from meeting and to persuade them to stay at home."

Milinkevich, warmly greeted in European capitals after losing to Lukashenko, was one of several dozen activists who had gathered outside the court during three days of closed-door sittings. Police detained several protesters on Tuesday.

Dashkevich had been in detention since his arrest in September. His lawyer, Alexander Galiyev, described the sentence as "far, far too harsh. We will, of course, be appealing."

Four members of another group, "Partnership", have been jailed from six months to two years on similar charges.

Lukashenko's re-election, in which he was credited with 83 percent of the vote to six for Milinkevich, sparked unprecedented street protests in the tightly controlled country of 10 million. Police broke them up after four days.

Parliament, where the opposition has no seats, adopted stiff penalties ahead of the election for a series of offences linked to dissent and the dissemination of information. Officials cited the need to counter threats to national security.

Western countries have accused Lukashenko of curbing fundamental freedoms and denounced the March election as blatantly rigged.

Source:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L01558607.htm

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