EU expects Belarus to release all political prisoners
Brussels welcomes the release of Belarus' prominent human rights defender Ales Bialiatski.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton announced it, the website of the European Union at the United Nations reports.
“We welcome the release of Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski,” the statement says. “He can finally meet his family and friends after three years of imprisonment for political reasons.
It is the Belarusian authorities’ important step and all the other political prisoners should also be released now. Their civil and political rights should be restored. It may help improve relations between the European Union and Belarus.”
Washington also called the release of the head of the human rights centre Viasna ‘a positive event’. “We are urging the Belarusian government to release all political prisoners without any restrictions immediately,” charter97.org quotes the statement distributed by the American Administration on June 21.
