OSCE criticizes Belarus over opposition figure`s arrest :: Charter'97 :: News

The arrest of a renowned public figure and politician, Mikhail Marynich, is yet "another proof of the deteriorating situation in the realms of human rights and civil society in Belarus," the press secretary of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office in Minsk, Heidi Smith, said today at a news conference. "It is particularly worrying in the light of the forthcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2004," she stressed.

Smith said that the Minsk office had already submitted several reports about Marynich`s case to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Austria, which were followed by the "strongly-worded" statements by the EU and the US delegation to the OSCE.

Smith said the Belarusian delegation to the OSCE held that the situation in this case "has been overly dramatized and the Belarusian authorities are operating within the law. Any illegal actions by the Belarusian court system are out of the question". Consequently, the Belarusian delegation "flatly rejected all accusation against Belarus", the OSCE press secretary said.

She added that the OSCE office would continue to monitor developments in Marynich`s arrest and keep the OSCE Permanent Council informed. The OSCE office employees and its head Eberhard Heyken had sent a letter to Marynich and were in constant contact with him through his lawyer Vera Stremkovskaya, Smith said.
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