BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/03/2006

Belarus opposition may boycott elections protesting KGB's pressure

The leading opposition candidate in Belarus is threatening to boycott next weekend's presidential elections because of growing state-sponsored intimidation against his supporters by the secret police, Sunday Telegraph reported. Alexander Milinkevich told the newspaper that he may decide to withdraw from the race in protest at the government's systematic abuse of the opposition and its supporters, including the arrest of more than 200 of his party workers over the past year. "We will consider boycotting these elections if state repression against us increases. Only yesterday 10 members of my team were sentenced to 15 days in jail by two courts in Minsk, ensuring they will not be able to participate in the election", said Mr Milinkevich during a rural campaign stop near Brest, close to the country's western border with Poland. The Belarus President has already warned of violence if people take to the streets after the elections. "There will be no disturbances," he said. "No one will climb on to the barricades to fight Lukashenko. If there are provocations, we'll give them such a going-over they won't know what's hit them". As polling day draws closer, the president's power apparatus - headed by a state security service, the KGB - has been busy uncovering a series of apparently subversive plots.

Also, Belarus secret services are going to deport foreigners that are arriving to the country to "destabilize the situation before and after the presidential elections on March 19". The press secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, Andrey Popov told that to the journalists, noting that a fgroup of Georgian citizens is arriving to Belarus under a disguise of electoral observers, planning to arrange provocations. He said tha the secret services will take every measures needed to prevent that.

Source:

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=729