George Bush Administration demands Belarusian authorities to release political prisoners

• 23.04.2008, 10:47

The U.S. president George Bush’s administration demanded the Belarusian authorities should release immediately and unconditionally all political prisoners in the country.

“We would call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Kim as well as all political prisoners in Belarus,” Tom Casey, U.S. State Department’s Deputy Spokesman, said it in Washington.

According to the representative of the U.S.Bureau of Public Affairs, “Belarusian authorities are continuing to use these kinds of heavy-handed tactics both in terms of breaking up opposition demonstrations as well as the things we’ve seen through this harsh sentence directed for Andrei Kim and some of the other activists.”

“It’s another example of the Belarusian Government working to silence political opposition and silence civil society,” RIA Novosti quotes Tom Casey.

Youth activist Andrei Kim was sentenced to a year and a half of imprisonment on Tuesday. He was found guilty of attack against a militia officer during January protest rally of entrepreneurs.