US condemns theft conviction of Belarus opposition politician

Yahoo! ^ | December 30, 2004 | AFP

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States condemned what it called the "spurious" theft conviction of a Belarus opposition politician, and said it was considering reprisals against the officials responsible.

Michail Marinich, an opponent of Belarus' hardline president Alexander Lukashenko, was sentenced to five years' hard labor on a charge he stole computers and other equipment the US government provided his non-governmental organization "Business Initiative."

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the charge "spurious" and said in a statement that the US government had filed no complaint on the whereabouts of the equipment.

"The United States condemns this abuse and earlier abuses of the judicial system by the Lukashenko regime to persecute Belarusian citizens for their political beliefs," the statement said.

"The United States will consider measures it may take to hold accountable those Belarusian officials who participate in such abuses of democratic procedures and human rights."

Marinich, ex-mayor of Minsk, former minister of external economic affairs and former ambassador to Estonia, Finland and Latvia, left his diplomatic career in 2001 in the hope of opposing Lukashenko.

His conviction Thursday came after a one-week trial in Minsk.

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Alexander Lukaschenko