THE EUROPEAN Union and the United States are reviewing their relationship with Belarus after the former Soviet state ignored their entreaties and cracked down hard on opponents of autocratic president Alexander Lukashenko.
Riot police violently dispersed thousands of people who thronged the centre of the capital, Minsk, on Sunday night to protest against Mr Lukashenko’s allegedly fraudulent re-election, and arrested more than 600, including several candidates in the election.
A police spokesman said yesterday that five of those election candidates and several other activists may be charged with “organising mass disorder”, which carries a possible 15-year jail term.
Western leaders had told Mr Lukashenko, the autocratic ruler of Belarus, he could look forward to better relations with the EU and US, and €3 billion in EU funds if Sunday’s election was more free and fair than its predecessors. Official results gave him almost 80 per cent of the vote, on an unlikely turnout of 90 per cent.
“Taken together, the elections and their aftermath represent an unfortunate step backwards in the development of democratic governance and respect for human rights in Belarus. The people of Belarus deserve better,” US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said in a joint statement yesterday. “It is against this background that we will be assessing the government of Belarus’s actions to address the current situation and to take developments into account as we review our relations with Belarus.”
Poet and presidential candidate Vladimir Neklyayev was knocked unconscious at Sunday’s protest. His lawyer said he had not been allowed to see him in jail. Two other candidates were beaten in police custody, their lawyers said.
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