BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

29/01/2007

Belarusian opposition leader fined over alleged border infraction

The Associated Press

MINSK, Belarus: Belarusian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich said Monday that a court ordered him to pay a sizable fine for a border violation in a case he dismissed as politically motivated "revenge" by the nation's authoritarian president, who is barred from much of the West because of his oppressive policies.

Milinkevich said he had received a court order fining him 4.65 million Belarusian rubles (US$2,200; ?1,700) and warning that if he does not pay by Feb. 10, he will no longer be allowed to leave the country.

Milinkevich said a court in the capital, Minsk, had found him guilty of deliberately crossing the Belarusian border illegally, in a case that was conducted in his absence.

He said that border officers had neglected to stamp his passport when he left in November for Latvia, where he met with U.S. President George W. Bush on the sidelines of a NATO summit, and that he pointed out the error upon his return.

Milinkevich, who ran against President Alexander Lukashenko in a presidential election last March and led protests following the vote, said he was planning to appeal what he called "a politically motivated decision. The authorities are trying to use this case to limit my activities."

"It is revenge by Lukashenko, who has been barred from entering the United States and the European Union," he said.

The EU and the United States have imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on Lukashenko and other officials they accuse of rigging elections and cracking down on opponents in the ex-Soviet republic of 10 million.

Unwelcome in the West, Lukashenko has had increasingly prickly relations with Russia, which more than doubled natural gas prices for Belarus this year and demanded most of the profits from refined oil products Belarus makes using Russian oil and then sells to Europe.

Lukashenko has relied heavily on cheap Russian energy supplies to keep the nation's Soviet-style, largely centrally planned economy running and maintain popularity. He has assailed Russia for the recent moves and has warned Belarusians that life will get tougher.

The Economics Ministry said Monday that the price of natural gas for industrial enterprises in Belarus in just over US$120 (?93) per 1,000 cubic meters as Jan. 1, an increase of nearly 90 percent over last year's rate, and that electricity rates have been increased by 21 percent.

The government said it will seek to limit utilities rate hikes for homes to a maximum of 20 percent in 2007.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/29/europe/EU-GEN-Belarus.php