BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/02/2007

US Imposes Sanctions on More Top Belarusian Officials

By VOA News

The United States has imposed economic sanctions against six more senior Belarusian officials because of their crackdown on the opposition to what the U.S. says were fraudulent presidential elections last year.

Those named in Tuesday's Treasury Department order include Belarus's top prosecutor, the education and information ministers and a lieutenant colonel of the Minsk riot police.

All their U.S. assets have been frozen, and U.S. citizens are barred from doing business with them.

Earlier sanctions were imposed on 10 other Belarusian officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko.

The U.S. Treasury's director of foreign assets control, Adam Szubin, says those who commit human rights abuses and political repression have no place in civil society.

President Lukashenko was re-elected to a third term last March in a vote the United States and European Union call fraudulent. President Bush has called Mr. Lukashenko Europe's last dictator.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.

Source:

http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-02-28-voa5.cfm