BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/12/2007

Washington Condemns Beating Of Belarusian Protesters

The U.S. State Department and U.S. Ambassador to Belarus Karen Stewart on December 13 condemned the police crackdown on Belarusian opposition activists in Minsk the previous day, Belapan reported. Protesters rallied on December 12 against perceived threats to Belarus's independence, specifically Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Minsk the following day to discuss the proposed Russian-Belarussian Union State. Riot police broke up the protest, severely beating Anatol Lyabedzka, the leader of the United Civic Party, and youth activist Zmitser Fedaruk, who was knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital. "This incident is another in a long series of repressive acts by the Belarussian authorities against their own citizens," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement. Ambassador Stewart, who visited Fedaruk at a hospital on December 13, said that the United States will continue its "steps to focus the international spotlight" on people responsible for the lack of democratic progress in Belarus. Stewart warned that Washington is ready to impose sanctions on more Belarusian state-run companies if Minsk does not move toward democratization. In mid-November, the U.S. Treasury Department froze all assets under U.S. jurisdiction belonging to Belarus's largest petrochemical company, Belnaftakhim, and its representatives, and forbade Americans from doing business with the company on the grounds that it is controlled by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/12/3-cee/cee-141207.asp