BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/07/2006

Police Detain Belarus Opposition Leader

The Associated Press

MINSK, Belarus -- Police detained opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich and his wife on Wednesday after stopping their car as they were driving north of the capital, his spokesman said.

Milinkevich _ who ran unsuccessfully against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in March_ was stopped on his way to visit a jailed opposition youth leader in Polotsk, 150 miles north of Minsk, said spokesman Pavel Mazheika.

Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994, quashing dissent and maintaining his power through elections widely dismissed as illegitimate _ tactics that have earned him the moniker of "Europe's last dictator" in the West.

Police brought Milinkevich and his wife, Inna Kulei, who is also an opposition figure, to a precinct house in Polotsk, Mazheika said. He said police did not explain why the two were detained.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment and attempts to reach Mazheika for further information were unsuccessful.

Milinkevich spent two weeks in jail following an April 26 protest that attracted about 10,000 people, an unusually large turnout in the tightly controlled country.

Alexander Kozulin, another opposition politician who also ran in the March 19 election, was convicted July 13 of organizing an unauthorized rally against the disputed vote and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in jail.

Source:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601785.html

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