BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/07/2006

U.S. Condemns Sentencing of Belarus Opposition Leader

MosNews

The United States has condemned the conviction and sentencing on July 13 of former Belarusian presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin, the State Department official website says.

Convicted of "hooliganism" and disturbing the peace, Kozulin was sentenced to five and one-half years in a medium security colony by the court of Maskouski district in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

"The entire trial was a politically motivated process designed to punish Kozulin for expressing his political views," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack in a statement released July 14.

"As we have done in the past, we will take steps to impose appropriate sanctions on those responsible for this abuse of a Belarusian citizen's rights," McCormack said.

In June, President Bush imposed targeted financial sanctions on Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and nine other top officials in his government. In May, Bush banned travel to the United States by Lukashenko and those associated with his regime.

In announcing the sanctions, the White House cited as justification the government's human rights abuses, corruption and assaults on democracy, as well as the "fraudulent" presidential election in March and post-election repression of the opposition. The United States refused to accept the results of the elections and supported the opposition's call for new elections.

Kozulin, a former rector of Belarusian State University, was arrested March 25 while leading a peaceful protest against the rigged election.

The European Union joined the United States in condemning Kozulin's conviction and sentencing.

In the July 14 State Department statement, McCormack called on Belarusian authorities "to free Kozulin and all those being held on politically motivated charges, including the four civic activists associated with the non-partisan monitoring group Partnership."

Partnership is a Belarusian non-governmental organization devoted to training Belarusians to be election observers and educating Belarusians on their voter rights under Belarusian law.

Source:

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/07/18/kozulin.shtml

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