BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/12/2006

Wife says Belarus activist ends fast

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK (Reuters) - A jailed Belarussian opposition activist has ended a 53-day hunger strike aimed at rallying opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko, his wife said on Tuesday, declaring that he sounded in good spirits.

Alexander Kozulin, one of two opposition figures to run against Lukashenko in his bid for re-election last March, was jailed for 5-1/2 years for organizing mass rallies after official results gave the president a landslide victory.

Belarus's most prominent opposition leader, Alexander Milinkevich, second in the election, was meanwhile, receiving a top human rights award in the French city of Strasbourg.

Prison officials had said Kozulin ended his fast launched on October 20; but his wife, denied the chance to visit him on Monday, refused to believe it until she had spoken to him.

"I just spoke to my husband by telephone and he said he had decided to end his hunger strike," Irina Kozulina told Reuters.

"He is now drinking freshly-squeezed juice and asked me to bring apples...He was confident and said he felt well. I am so relieved."

Kozulina had earlier expressed fears her husband was being force-fed.

The United States and European Union dismissed the March election as rigged and demand Kozulin's release. Both have barred entry to Lukashenko and about 30 other officials.

Lukashenko, in office since 1994, remains popular and says he has spared his people the turmoil of other ex-Soviet states.

The deputy head of the prison in Vitebsk in eastern Belarus earlier said Kozulin had declared an end to his fast, refused medical treatment and was feeling "just fine".

Lukashenko's victory, with 83 percent of the vote, sparked mass demonstrations in tightly-controlled Belarus.

Kozulin, a former university rector, was convicted on charges of incitement to disorder after urging protesters to march on a prison where their comrades were held.

Police broke up the march and more than 600 people were jailed for up to 15 days on public order charges.

Three people were handed similar sentences after a weekend protest supporting Kozulin. New hearings were due on Tuesday, with defendants including veteran activist Anatoly Lebedko.

Milinkevich, who scored 6 percent in March, was awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov human rights prize.

"We all know that dictators do not survive for long," Milinkevich, who won a standing ovation, told the chamber.

Detained twice briefly in recent weeks on suspicion of minor offences, he said the prize was "for all those who continue fighting for freedom -- they are many".

Source:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-12-12T130444Z_01_L12794441_RTRUKOC_0_US-BELARUS-INMATE.xml&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C2_worldNews-9