Belarus Elections

With less than a week to go before March 19 presidential elections in Belarus, the United States calls again on the Belarusian government to cease repression of political campaigns and civil society groups, and to respect the rights of Belarusian citizens. On March 7 and 8, police detained twelve aides to opposition candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich, including senior campaign officials Vintsuk Vyachorka and Anatoly Lebedko, allegedly for organizing unsanctioned rallies. These incidents come in the aftermath of the March 2 beating and detention of opposition candidate Aleksandr Kozulin, as well as a number of his supporters and journalists. Activists from the non-partisan civic group Partnership have been in detention since February 21.The latest interim report of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission details harassment of opposition campaigns, and civil society activists, including detentions and seizure of materials. We are also concerned about reports that a number of Belarusian and Ukrainian citizens were detained after a Milinkevich rally yesterday.