BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

23/02/2006

Svoboda dismisses Belarussian criticism over interference

PRAGUE- Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda (the Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) today dismissed the allegation by Belarussian authorities that the Czech Republic interfered in Belarus' internal affairs.

At the weekend, Belarussian authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko accused through state television the Czech embassy in Minsk of subversive activities.

Belarussian authorities said that Czech diplomats spread propaganda pamphlets before the forthcoming parliamentary elections in order to subvert the order in the country.

"There is a vociferous campaign against the Czech Republic in Minsk," Svoboda said, adding that what was called subversive pamphlets was a report by the United Nations Human Rights Commission for Belarus.

Svoboda called on the Belarussian representatives to speak about the affair on the Czech television.

Due to the human rights abuses in Belarus, Czech-Belarussian relations are chilly. The regime in Belarus has also been criticised by the EU.

The Prague conference on Belarus was attended by the delegation of the opposition presidential candidate Aljaksander Milinkievic, Slovak Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan and chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Rene Van der Linden.

The Belarussian opposition is afraid that the March presidential elections may be rigged again.

Source:

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=174554