BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

05/12/2006

Milinkevich Stopped By Police on Drug Tip

Reuters

MINSK -- Belarus' opposition leader, who took on President Alexander Lukashenko in an election dismissed in the West, was detained on Monday on suspicion of carrying drugs and alcohol, the second such incident in as many weeks.

Alexander Milinkevich was stopped by police in the western town of Belozersk, where he was helping opposition candidates running in January's local elections, his spokesman said.

"Some policemen came up to us and said they had received an anonymous call with a tip-off that our car was carrying drugs," Pavel Mazheiko by telephone.

About an hour later, Mazheiko said police had released the opposition leader, awarded Europe's top human rights prize this year in a country accused of major human rights breaches.

"To be honest, they didn't carry out much of a search. They wanted explanations from Milinkevich on why he was visiting Belozersk and on whose behalf he was campaigning," Mazheiko said.

A police spokesman in the town confirmed that Milinkevich had been detained, but gave no reason.

Last week, border guards at the Minsk airport detained Milinkevich on allegations of passport irregularities after he had returned home from a conference in neighbouring Latvia addressed by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Milinkevich ran a distant second in a March poll, scoring 6 percent to the president's announced total of 83 percent.

Proclamation of the results sparked four days of unprecedented protests in Belarus, broken up by police when demonstrators marched toward a prison where some of their comrades were held.

More than 600 people were jailed for up to 15 days on public order offences. Milinkevich was handed a similar sentence in the weeks after the poll for organizing an illegal demonstration.

The United States and European Union have long accused Lukashenko of crushing opponents and silencing media, and barred entry to the president and 30 other officials after the poll.

Lukashenko last month dismissed any suggestion that the vote handing him a third term had been rigged.

Source:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/12/05/013.html

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