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Belarus strongman frees critics after EU pressure

15 April 2012, 18:18 CET
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Belarus strongman frees critics after EU pressure

Alexander Lukashenko - Photo BELARUS.BY

(MINSK) - Two opponents of Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko returned home in triumph to Minsk Sunday after winning early release from jail in what supporters hailed as the result of EU pressure on his regime.

Former diplomat Andrei Sannikov, the most prominent opposition figure imprisoned in Lukashenko's crackdown on the opposition after 2010 elections, was released from his jail in the northeastern city of Vitebsk.

Meanwhile, Sannikov's former aide and fellow activist Dmitry Bondarenko was also released from the eastern city of Mogilev. Both had made requests for pardons to Lukashenko, which the authoritarian president finally approved.

The high-profile releases come as the European Union piles pressure on Minsk to release all political prisoners after hitting the regime with a range of sanctions targeting top officials and companies.

Around 100 supporters shouted "Long live Belarus!" and "Our President!" as Sannikov arrived outside Minsk's central railway station in the early morning in a car from Vitebsk, an AFP correspondent said.

"Thank you all for your support and solidarity. I believe that this solidarity and support not only got me released but also saved me," said Sannikov, clutching bouquets of roses handed by supporters.

"It was this that prompted international solidarity. And now we have to get other political prisoners released. This is the main thing," he said before heading to a reunion with his wife Irina and their four-year-old son Danik.

Sannikov, a former deputy foreign minister, was the most prominent candidate to run against Lukashenko in controversial December 2010 polls which the strongman swept with almost 80 percent of the vote.

He was arrested when riot police cracked down on a mass demonstration protesting alleged election rigging in the polls by Lukashenko, who has now been in power for almost 18 years.

Sannikov was sentenced in May last year to five years in prison on charges of organising mass disturbances. Bondarenko had been sentenced to two years in jail.

"I will continue my political activity so that Belarus becomes a free European country," Bondarenko said after arriving back in Minsk where he was met by supporters including Sannikov.

The Belarus opposition want their country to target EU membership and build a liberal society and economy, in contrast to Lukashenko who has favoured close Kremlin ties and Soviet-style economic management.

The releases come three weeks after EU foreign ministers agreed to freeze the assets of 29 Belarussian companies as well as block accounts and ban EU travel for 12 individuals in the toughest Western sanctions yet against Minsk.

Around a dozen people regarded by the opposition as political prisoners remain in jail, including another former candidate in the presidential elections Nikolai Statkevich.

"All political prisoners need to be freed immediately. Not one of them bears any guilt," Belarus' first post-Soviet leader and Lukashenko foe Stanislav Sushkevich told the Charter 97 news website that Sannikov founded.

Independent analyst Alexei Korol said that the releases were due to the "influence of sanctions" but expressed concern that Lukashenko could be encouraged towards "manoeuvring between East and West".

"This is without doubt the result of European sanctions," Bondarenko's wife Olga told AFP. "Europe has adopted a tough position and if it keeps this up they should release all political prisoners."

Belarus is enduring an economic crisis that saw inflation soar to 108 percent last year and it could be hugely vulnerable to further sanctions.

Some commentators say that sports-mad Lukashenko has also been stung by calls for Belarus to lose the right to host the world championships in his favourite sport ice hockey in 2014 due to the crackdown.


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