BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/03/2008

Belarus courts sentence demonstrators

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK (Reuters) - Courts in Belarus on Wednesday sentenced dozens of protesters detained in an illegal protest against President Alexander Lukashenko who is accused in the West of stifling human rights.

The European Union and the United States criticized the police for rounding up demonstrators. Brussels, generally less strident in its criticism, urged Belarus to pursue its recent drive for better ties with Western countries.

But the former Soviet republic's opposition said the police action on Tuesday could signal an end to Lukashenko's efforts to improve foreign relations.

Lukashenko has courted the 27-nation EU since a row with Russia last year over energy prices, but is at odds with the United States over sanctions and human rights.

The Interior Ministry said 70 protesters faced public order charges and by early evening courts had handed down 55 sentences -- fines or up to 15 days in jail. A Belarussian journalist was among those sentenced -- a rare occurrence.

A Reuters photographer said one court house was surrounded by riot police with access barred to all outsiders.

Police on Tuesday surrounded hundreds of protesters in a city square in the capital Minsk, beat them and bundled dozens into vehicles. Eighteen detainees, some of them foreigners, were freed within hours.

"This is, of course, a signal to the West that there will be no weakening of the regime in Belarus," Alexander Milinkevich, the opposition's most prominent leader, told Reuters.

He said authorities had done "a complete about-turn in tactics" by using force after months of restraint and predicted the EU might become less reluctant to impose new sanctions.

WESTERN CRITICISM

In Brussels, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner described the police action as "unacceptable".

"I am all the more dismayed by these events, since we had recently seen some more positive actions by the Belarussian authorities," she said in a statement.

Belarus, she said, had to understand that such action "needs to be confirmed if we are to engage in a full partnership".

U.S. State Department spokesman Chase Beamer said the crackdown showed Lukashenko was still flouting basic freedoms.

"We call for the immediate release of those arrested for peacefully protesting, in addition to the other remaining political prisoners being held by Belarus," he said.

"Only then will the United States and Belarus be able to begin moving towards meaningful dialogue."

Milinkevich, one of two opposition candidates to run against the president in 2006, said the change in tactics was dictated by strong objections to Western sanctions, particularly U.S. measures against oil products firm Belneftekhim.

U.S. officials and the EU have linked resumed dialogue to the release of Alexander Kozulin -- Belarus's most prominent detainee seen in the West as a political prisoner. Other detainees have been released in recent months.

Kozulin, who also ran against Lukashenko, was jailed for 5 1/2 years for helping stage protests against his re-election.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Brussels and Sue Pleming in Washington, Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source:

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2692854020080326?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Google