No more political prisoners in Belarus

The last remaining political prisoners in Belarus; Aleksandr Kazulin, former presidential candidate, Andrei Kim, young activist, and Sergei Parsjukevich, the entrepreneur, have been released by order of President A. Lukashenka. Most opposition politicians and human rights activists believe the move is a result of EU and USA pressure. Belarusian officials have not commented. (21-AUG-08)

Based on www.charter97.org, www.nn.by ; illustrated by www.charter97.org, www.svaboda.org, www.nn.by

16 August the former presidential candidate Aliaksandr Kazulin, right, was unexpectedly released from the prison. He spent more than 2 years behind the bars. During his press-conference, August 20th, he expressed his profound gratitude to all people supported him, and to the EU and USA firm position, without which his discharge was impossible, Kazulin supposed. He intends to file a complaint to the UN Human Rights Council against Belarusian authorities for the illegal imprisonment.

7 months in prison-7 minutes for packing
Conducting the press-conference Mr. Kazulin did not at all expect  that two more political prisoners;Andrei Kim and Sergei Parsjukevich, below, were being also released. «I was just confronted with fact that I was free. They woke me up in the morning and gave 7 minutes for packing. They said I was granted a pardon by Lukashenka’s order. That means I was arrested with the lawless formulation and was discharged also with the lawless formulation”, – said Andrei. He spent 7 months in the prison. The young activist expressed his gratitude to all Belarusians and to the international community, struggling for his release.
Sergei Parsjukevich was also discharged by Presidential order. “I was released due to the EU and USA pressure. I suppose, authorities want Europe to admit coming ‘Parliamentary elections’, but our releases are not enough for this. As I understood there were no changes in the country”,-noticed Mr. Parsjukevich. He spent 5 months in jail.  

Reactions
Former political prisoner Zmicer Dashkevich stated that “people who consider this as the change of Lukashenka’s policy strategic course are mistaken. Under the pressure of external forces and internal circumstances, he ought to make some steps. No one of the political prisoners was declared not guilty”.
Most of oppositional politics connected these releases with USA economic sanctions against Belarusian oil-refining enterprise and EU political pressure. Official authorities did not comment the situation.