Seventeen opposition activists continue hunger strike in Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

Seventeen opposition activists in Belarus pledged Sunday to continue their hunger strike Sunday to protest the policies of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko despite the deteriorating health of at least one of them. The strike was begun on June 3 by three members of Respublika, the only opposition party in parliament, to protest a possible referendum on a third term for Lukashenko, to demand freedom for a jailed opposition leader and to push for changes in election laws. Fourteen opposition activists from six Belarusian cities later joined the protest.

"We decided to go on a hunger strike to show that all of Belarus is against the dictator Lukashenko," said Dmitry Chertkov of the Maladaya Gramada organization in Zhodino, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) east of the capital, Minsk.

Doctors recommended Sunday that hunger striker Valery Frolov, who hasn`t eaten in 11 days, be hospitalized, but the Respublika lawmaker refused.

The activists have been visited by U.S. Ambassador George Krol, who hailed their action, and representations from European Union nations.

Shrugging off Western criticism, Lukashenko has continued to run the country of 10 million with an iron hand, cracking down on dissent and maintaining rigid, Soviet-style controls over the economy.

First elected in 1994, he has repeatedly raised the prospect of seeking a third term through a referendum. Current legislation limits presidents to two terms in office, and Lukashenko`s last term runs out in 2006.

The protesters are also calling for Mikhail Marinich, an opposition leader, to be freed from prison.

Marinich, a former minister for international economic affairs who joined the opposition in 2001, was arrested April 26 on charges of illegal weapons possession and the theft of state documents.