BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
20/12/2006
University rectors call for release of Kozulin from prison
Prague, Dec 19 (CTK) - The Czech Rectors? Conference has condemned the repressions to which Belarussian opposition leader and Belarussian State University Rector Emeritus Alyaksandr Kozulin is exposed, conference secretary Marie Fojtikova told CTK today.
In their statement, the rectors called on Belarussian authorities to immediately release Kozulin from prison, Fojtikova said.
In July, former opposition presidential candidate Kozulin, 51, was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for organising a demonstration of protest against the results of the March presidential elections in Belarus in which Kozulin was one of three candidates challenging authoritarian President Alexandr Lukashenko.
In the elections that were definitely rigged, according to the Belarussian opposition and western countries, Lukashenko who has been long accused of human rights violations in Belarus, was again elected its president.
Apart from Kozulin, another opposition leader, Aljaksandr Milinkevich, ran in the elections.
Last week, Kozulin, who has been in prison since March, ended a 54-day hunger strike that he held to protest against his sentence and his health condition was serious.
The Czech Foreign Ministry then issued a statement saying that since the life of imprisoned Kozulin is seriously endangered, the Czech Republic calls on Belarussian authorities to release him from prison and provide him immediate medical care.
In their statement today, the Czech rectors expressed their disappointment over the persistent totalitarian regime in Belarus that "does not hesitate to resort to mass violation of fundamental human rights and general repressions, including attacks on independent thinking that directly infringe upon academic soil."
The conference also called for facilitating the conditions for the study and training stays by young Belarussians in the Czech Republic.
Source:
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