European Parliament insists on release of Belarusian political prisoners

• 29.05.2008, 8:58

President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering urged the Belarusian authorities to release all political prisoners.

The politician has also called on the Belarusian authorities to give more religious freedom, stop persecuting of independent mass media and abolish the death penalty in the country.

The statement was made in Brussels after the meeting with opposition leaders Alyaksandr Milinkevich and Paval Sevyarynets on 27 May, Radio Svaboda reports. At the meeting the Belarusian politicians hand presented 50,000 signatures of the Belarusians, who are not satisfied with the law on “Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations” and a petition on violating the freedom of conscience in Belarus. Accepting the letters signed by thousands of the Belarusians, the European Parliament’s President called the signatories “the courageous people.”