BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/04/2006

Berlin urges Belarus to release politician

BERLIN, April 27 (UPI) -- A top politician of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has called for the immediate release of an opposition politician in Belarus.

"It is totally inacceptable that the Belarus government jails an opposition politician for political reasons," Ronald Pofalla, the Christian Democratic Union's secretary-general, said in a statement. "I demand his immediate release."

Belarus' main opposition leader, Alexander Milinkevich, has been jailed for 15 days after being convicted of attending an unsanctioned rally in Minsk.

The protestors had gathered for a march remembering the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident on their territory. Some of them took a route through parts of the city center police had announced as off-limits.

The sentence comes as the government of President Alexander Lukashenko is cracking down on opposition movements.

Lukashenko's landslide victory in last month's election in Belarus was met by large-scale protests. International observers say the election was rigged.

Source:

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060427-111034-2010r