Belarus Releases Opposition Leaders, Bulgaria Excited

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Mladenov has hailed the release of Belarusian opposition figure Andrei Sannikov. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's government has hailed the release of Belarusian opposition leader Andrei Sannikov by the regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

On Saturday, the Belarusian authorities released Sannikov, who had been in jail since 2010 on charges of inciting riots after presidential elections, Sannikov's wife, Irina Khalip said, as cited by RIA Novosti.

After the December 2010 presidential poll, Belarusian police beat and arrested hundreds of demonstrators, who attempted to storm the government headquarters in protest against Lukashenko's re-election for a fourth term.

"The release of Andrei Sannikov - one of the main opposition leaders and former presidential candidate is the first good news from Minsk for a long time," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov declared in a special statement on Sunday.

"I welcome this decision which is an encouraging first step, and I look forward to the release and rehabilitation of all political prisoners. The completion of this process is a major prerequisite for Belarus to gradually reintegrate in the international community. The conduct of the parliamentary elections in the autumn will be the next decisive milestone. They have to be free, democratic and multiparty and to give the citizens of Belarus a real choice. I am convinced that this is the only way for Belarus to be a proud, free, democratic and independent state, as its citizens deserve," Mladenov added.

On Sunday, the Belarusian authorities have also freed the coordinator of the European Belarus opposition movement Dmitry Bondarenko from prison, Bondarenko's wife Olga Bondarenko told RIA Novosti.

"He will soon return to Minsk," she said.

Bondarenko, who was a proxy of ex-presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov at the December 2010 elections, was sentenced to two years in prison on the charges of his involvement in mass riots after the presidential poll.

The European Union has demanded that Minsk release 11 political prisoners. Only Sannikov and Bondarenko asked President Alexander Lukashenko for a pardon.

Sannikov's wife said that her husband had been tortured into writing the request for mercy.

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