BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
28/02/2008
Belarusian opposition figure returns to prison after attending wife's funeral
MINSK, Belarus (AP) - A Belarusian opposition figure jailed for protesting the 2006 vote that re-elected authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko returned to prison Thursday, after being furloughed for three days to attend his wife's funeral.
Alexander Kozulin's efforts to go the funeral had attracted an international attention, particularly after he vowed to stop eating to protest being denied permission.
Kozulin was driven by supporters to the prison northeast of Minsk on Thursday evening, three days after he was released to end the ceremony, defense lawyer attorney Igor Rynkevich told The Associated Press.
Kozulin was arrested and sentenced to 5? years in prison for a protest he led following the 2006 vote _ an election the opposition says was rigged in favor of Lukashenko.
"The authorities suggested to me that I flee to Germany, but I prefer to stay in this country," Kozulin told a news conference in Minsk hours before returning to prison as a "law-abiding citizen.
In the days leading up to his wife Irina's death on Saturday, the United States and European Union demanded that he be set free.
His two daughters and three other supporters had joined the hunger strike, and about 1,000 people marched through Minsk in solidarity.
Washington and Brussels have imposed sanctions against Lukashenko and other government officials for quashing political opposition, shuttering independent media and holding elections that the West has dismissed as illegitimate.
Several opposition figures have been released since the start of the year in what Lukashenko has called "an unprecedented step of good will toward the West.
Source:
http://www.pr-inside.com/belarusian-opposition-figure-returns-to-r462630.htm
Archive
