BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
15/02/2008
No political prisoners in Belarus - Lukashenko
VITEBSK. Feb 15 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has declared that there are no political prisoners in Belarus.
"The issue of so-called political prisoners can now be regarded as irrelevant," Lukashenko told Interfax on Friday.
"There are no reasons to criticize us," Lukashenko said. "I would like to advise our people, especially those who like to condemn me, to see what the EU and the U.S. will do now," Lukashenko said.
It was reported earlier that several imprisoned activists from non- registered opposition youth organizations had recently been given freedom.
Lukashenko said the so-called political prisoners "were punished for particular crimes in line with the Criminal Code."
"We don't have political articles" in the Criminal Code, Lukashenko said. "I think the way the European Union is bringing up this issue is not worth a penny, and therefore I decided to release the people for whom the West and the U.S. stood up for so much," Lukashenko said.
"They [the prisoners] have apparently done a lot of good deeds to the EU and the U.S., and so they [the West] are not leaving them on their own now," he said.
"This is the only thing I like in the EU's and the U.S.' position," Lukashenko said.
Source:
http://www.interfax.com/3/365679/news.aspx
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