The Supreme Court of Belarus has rejected a defeated candidate`s request to invalidate the results of last month`s presidential election. Anastasiya Tsimanovich, spokeswoman for the Supreme Court, said that Aleksandr Kozulin`s complaint was outside the court`s jurisdiction.

---

A Belarusian opposition leader arrested during protests in Minsk March 25 will spend at least two more months in prison before his case comes to court, a defense lawyer said Wednesday. "Investigation usually takes two months. However, if the case becomes politically charged, it will be hard to guess how long it will take. Anyway, [Alexander] Kozulin is ready for trial," defense attorney Igor Rynkevich said.

---

In the evening of April 3 about 9.30 p.m. strangers beat Mikola Kalinin, human rights defender and an activist of the Roma movement. According to Kalinin, the incident occurred on the corner of Bahdanovich and Kamunistychna Streets. He was approached by 6 unknown guys and a girl. The girl told the guys that he had insulted her. Kalinin says he has never seen the girl before: “I remember only the first strong blow of a professional boxer in the face. Then I passed out.

---

Pavel Severinets, who is serving a two-year "restricted freedom" sentence in northern Belarus, has been granted a four-day leave to visit his parents in Vitebsk. The opposition youth leader has had his requests for a leave rejected for the last 10 weeks, although regulations allow those serving "restricted freedom" terms to take a few days off every month. He said the correctional facility administration had deliberately kept him from leaving the area during the presidential election period.

---

The European Union has pledged to maintain pressure on Belarus to open up to democracy, as it welcomed a defeated opposition candidate to Strasbourg. The international community has described the presidential polls last month as severely flawed. Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich got a warm welcome from MEPs.

---

A week of protests in Belarus over the fraudulent presidential election ended in violence. On March 24th, Belarusian police clubbed demonstrators as they gathered in the center of Minsk, the capital, to protest the re-election of authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko. According to the human rights group Vasnya, more than one-hundred protesters were detained. Opposition candidate Alexander Kozulin was detained after leading a march to a jail where opposition supporters are being held.

---

Belarusian opposition leader Alyaksandr Milinkevich has urged the European Union to ban hundreds of Belarusian officials from traveling in the EU for violating election laws.

---

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel said on April 5 that Belarus` opposition supporters found themselves in a "dramatic" situation after last month`s presidential election. Speaking at a European Parliament session, the chancellor noted persecution and imprisonment of demonstrators, expulsions of students and dismissals from work for political reasons.

---

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko appeared on state television for the first time in a week on Tuesday, but he looked tired and pale and the footage did little to dispel persistent rumors that he is in ill health following protests over his disputed re-election.

---

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday renewed Moscow`s accusations that the European Union (EU) was trying to isolate Belarus since the reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko last month.

---

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko asserted his government?s foreign policy supported the principles of sovereignty and collaboration among states, but without foreign pressure to force a change in the national process.

---

Genadz Karpenka passed away 7 years ago. The man who lived an honest, open, courageous life. The politician who never betrayed his principals, views and beliefs. The leader, that we can say posthumously “He would have been a real President”!

---