The U.S. State Department has welcomed the release from prison of Belarus opposition politician and former presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich and five others.
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Another prisoner, , was arrested in 2010 along with Statkevich for wearing a “Lukashenko Go” T-shirt.
On his release, a smiling Statkevich was given a hero’s welcome with flowers and balloons by around 200 people in Minsk. “Minsk is in real need of Western credits because of the economic collapse”.
EU officials on Saturday praised Belarus’ president for his release of political prisoners. The next election is due to take place on October 11.
The move has been described by the European Union “as a long-sought step forward”, but detractors say it’s part of a strategy by Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko to secure more Russian loans amid a recession.
“We now expect the authorities of Belarus to remove all restrictions on the enjoyment of full civil and political rights of the released”, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a joint statement on Sunday. Washington once dubbed the country as Europe’s “last dictatorship”.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has released six opposition leaders from jail.
Statkevich was given a six-year jail sentence in May 2011 on a charge of organizing mass street protests against Lukashenko’s re-election at the time.
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“Lukashenko clearly sees economic crisis and political madness in Russian Federation now, so he wants to improve relations with the West and understands that dialogue is impossible without freeing political prisoners”, Alexei Yanukevich, leader of BNF opposition party, told AFP. “If (I decide) to release him, then it will be before the elections”, he said.
