BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/02/2008

Belarus lets jailed activist attend wife's funeral

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK (Reuters) - Jailed Belarussian opposition activist Alexander Kozulin was released on compassionate leave Tuesday to attend his wife's funeral.

Kozulin, described by the West as a political prisoner, said President Alexander Lukashenko had given in to pressure from the European Union and the United States in a bid to improve relations.

Kozulin, jailed for 5-1/2 years for helping to stage rallies denouncing Lukashenko's re-election in 2006, was allowed home for three days. His wife Irina died of cancer at the weekend and will be buried on Wednesday.

Speaking by telephone, Kozulin said he had been told unexpectedly to gather his things on Monday night, then been put in a car and accompanied to his home by the prison director.

"It was the tough position taken by the European Union and United States and support from people in Belarus," he said.

"And also probably my stand when I said I was ready to die, to be buried alongside my wife, unless they let me out to pay my last respects. That probably frightened the authorities."

The United States welcomed the release of Kozulin and urged that it be made permanent and unconditional. State Department spokesman Tom Casey called the release of six other political prisoners in recent weeks a positive step for Belarus.

Kozulin, 52, had gone on hunger strike and had threatened to refuse liquids from Tuesday if he was not allowed out. His two daughters had also gone on hunger strike

The academic is one of two remaining detainees described as political prisoners by the West, which accuses the ex-Soviet state of 10 million people of human rights abuses.

"Should Mr. Kozulin's release be made permanent, all internationally recognized political prisoners would have been released, and we would be prepared to begin a dialogue with Belarus on further steps to improve bilateral relations," Casey said in a statement.

SEEKING BETTER TIES WITH THE WEST

Lukashenko is barred from entering the United States and the EU on grounds that he rigged his re-election.

But since quarrelling with his traditional ally Russia over energy prices last year, he has been calling for better relations, particularly with Brussels.

"It is clear Lukashenko is facing the need to introduce serious changes," Kozulin said. "He needs urgently to settle the issue of improving relations with the EU and the United States."

But Kozulin was uncertain this would prompt his final release, as has occurred in recent months with other activists.

"Given my wife's state, the fact that she was near death, I should have been the first to be freed on humanitarian grounds," he said. "But the authorities didn't do this and made it quite clear how they stand on the issue."

Hours before Kozulin was freed, 400 people carrying candles and portraits of him and his wife gathered in a square in Minsk.

EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner had said releasing Kozulin would be "an important signal."

Kozulin was jailed after urging protesters at a rally denouncing the president's re-election to march to a prison where some activists were being held. He staged a 53-day hunger strike to draw attention to human rights violations in Belarus.

(Additional reporting by JoAnne Allen in Washington; writing by Ron Popeski; editing by Kevin Liffey and Mohammad Zargham)

Source:

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2611872620080227

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