Austria, the current EU presidency, warned of the "continuing deterioration" of the situation in Belarus, where authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is seeking a third term in office.
The EU and the Council of Europe both slammed Minsk for sentencing Vintsuk Vyachorka, leader of the opposition Belarus Popular Front, to 15 days in jail for staging an unauthorized political rally.
The Council of Europe's parliamentary speaker, Rene van der Linden, denounced Vyachorka's arrest as "further evidence of the unwillingness of the Lukashenka regime to ensure the basic conditions for free and democratic elections."
(AFP)
Belarus Votes 2006
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