BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/03/2007

Belarusian Author Of Satirical Cartoons To Apply For Asylum In Estonia

Andrey Abozau, a member of a group that in 2005 created satirical cartoons featuring Belarusian President Lukashenka and other senior government officials, intends to apply to the Estonian authorities for political asylum, Belapan reported on March 29. Abozau fled Belarus after the Minsk City Prosecutor's Office instituted criminal proceedings over the cartoons in August 2005. The case was opened under an article that carries a prison sentence of up to five years for the defamation of the president. Last week, Abozau was arrested in the Russian city of Tver on a train traveling from Moscow to Tallinn, Estonia. He was previously put on the Russian police's wanted list at the request of the Belarusian investigators. A court in Tver, however, ruled that Abozau could not be extradited to Belarus, and the Belarusian national was brought to the Estonian border earlier this week. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/03/3-CEE/cee-300307.asp