Alyaksandr Kazulina must come back to colony today
- 28.02.2008, 8:42
Political prisoner A. Kazulin must come back to the Vitsebsk penal colony №3 today. The three-day release to attend the funeral of his wife Iryna, died from hard disease on 23 February, is over. The EU and the US demanded to make release of Kazulin permanent. Only then the official Minsk has an opportunity to start a process of normalisation of relation with the West.
The US welcomes temporary release of Alyaksandr Kazulin, but insists on his release “be made permanent and unconditional.” The statement of Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman of the US Department of State of 26 February, says it. He stressed that release of Alyaksandr Kazulin would mean that “all internationally recognized political prisoners” are released in Belarus. After that “we would be prepared to begin a dialogue with Belarus on further steps to improve bilateral relations,” T. Casey said.
The EU’s president Slovenia extended condolence to Alyaksandr Kazulin and his daughters on Iryna Kazulina’s death. Meanwhile the EU urges the Belarusian authorities to unconditional release of Alyaksandr Kazulin in a special declaration. The document stresses the release of Kazulin would be considered as a concrete step of Belarus towards common with Europe appreciation of values of democracy, human rights and legal rules.
The OSCE, the Council of Europe, members of the European Parliament, EU High Representative Javier Solana, US President George Bush spoke for release of the political prisoner.
Alyaksandr Kazulin, former candidate for presidency in the Republic of Belarus, was thrown behind bars for organising protest actions against rigging of presidential results on Freedom Day, 25 March, 2006. The Minsk court sentenced Alyaksandr Kazulin to 5 and a half years of imprisonment on 13 July.