BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/01/2008

U.S. Embassy CondemnsS Arrests At Vendors' Demonstration

The U.S. Embassy in Belarus has condemned "the detention, arrest, and mistreatment of activists before, during, and after peaceful protests by Belarusian entrepreneurs and civic leaders held on January 10 in Minsk," it said in a January 11 statement posted on its website. The embassy said that the arrests and sentencing of participants, including Harbachou, Lyabedzka, and Shumchanka, "was clearly intended to prevent them from exercising their civil and human rights or to punish them for exercising these same rights." The embassy pointed out that the arrested demonstrators received injuries during or after their arrests. "Such treatment of peaceful demonstrators violates fundamental freedoms of expression and assembly," the statement said. The embassy urged the authorities to permit Belarusians to participate without harassment in peaceful demonstrations and urged security forces to exercise restraint in their interaction with demonstrators. AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/01/3-cee/cee-140108.asp