BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/04/2006

Belarus opposition leader jailed for 15 daysAdd story to my swissinfo panel

Belarussian opposition leader Milinkevich

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK (Reuters) - A court in ex-Soviet Belarus on Thursday sentenced main opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich to 15 days in prison for taking part in a big rally the previous day that police said was unlawful.

Milinkevich has become a focus for opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko, who is accused in the West of crushing dissent in his tightly controlled state.

Looking calm as the judge read out the sentence, the bearded Milinkevich denied he was guilty of any crime.

"This is a political action, a political sentence," Milinkevich told the courtroom. "Leaders of leading political parties are behind bars."

Other leading opposition activists were also given short prison sentences in an apparent crackdown by authorities after about 7,000 demonstrators took part in a rally on Wednesday.

The European Union said it was following the arrests in Belarus closely.

"We condemn any detentions that are for reasons of having taken part in a demonstration or any other political activity," said EU Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin.

The EU has already imposed visa bans on top Belarus officials following a March 19 election won easily by Lukashenko that Western observers said was blatantly rigged.

"It is important that the Belarussian authorities take note of the fact that further action has not been ruled out ... we are not lowering our guard," said Udwin.

Milinkevich came a distant second in the presidential election. But the EU showed support for Milinkevich by inviting him for high-level talks in Vienna and Strasbourg.

Wednesday's rally was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster -- traditionally a focal point for anti-Lukashenko protests. Some demonstrators took a route police had warned was off-limits.

POLICE WITNESSES

The court took about an hour to find Milinkevich guilty of taking part in an unlawful gathering. It heard from two witnesses, both of them police officers.

Later, Milinkevich was escorted from the rear of the court building to a bus, which was expected to take him to prison.

Activists said Vintsuk Vechorko, another veteran opponent of Lukashenko, was picked up on Wednesday night and was given a 15-day sentence for public order offences.

Sergei Kalyakin, a communist and senior figure in the opposition movement, was sentenced to 14 days.

Milinkevich was summoned to the prosecutors' office ahead of Wednesday's protest and told to stay away from October Square -- the site of big demonstrations last month against Lukashenko's landslide victory.

Demonstrators initially tried to gather at the square but later moved on to another site authorised by authorities.

Milinkevich told the gathering the opposition planned to turf Lukashenko out of office within two years by using civil disobedience.

Western countries accuse Lukashenko of crushing fundamental human rights during his 12 years in office.

Another opposition figure said he had been beaten when taken in for questioning on Wednesday at the offices of the national security service -- still known by its Soviet-era KGB acronym.

"My car was stopped, several plainclothes people dragged me out. They beat me in the stomach (and) in the back," Anatoly Lebedko, a Milinkevich ally who heads the small United Civic Party, told a news briefing.

He said he had been released after five hours. A KGB official said Lebedko's account was not credible.

Lebedko told reporters that Lukashenko's opponents will not be bowed by the wave of detentions. "We should fight this system. This regime is afraid," he said.

Reuters (IDS)

Source:

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Belarus_opposition_leader_jailed_for_15_days.html?siteSect=143&sid=6585235&cKey=1146139743000

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