EU, US ambassadors in Minsk hold testimonial dinner for Marinich :: Charter'97 :: News

The Latvian embassy in Minsk on Thursday hosted a testimonial dinner to celebrate the early release of prominent Belarusian opposition figure Mikhail Marinich. The ambassadors of the United States and European Union members countries, as well as Mr. Marinich, who served as Belarus` Riga-based ambassador to Latvia, Estonia, and Finland between 1999 and 2001, attended the party.

Juris Poikans, a counselor at the embassy, told BelaPAN that the dinner had been held “in a friendly and positive atmosphere.”

He said that the embassy hosted the party not because it represents Austria’s EU presidency in Belarus. It was a matter of honor to invite the former ambassador for whose release Latvia had been struggling, he stressed.

Mr. Marinich thanked the diplomats for the dinner and their efforts to free him.

The 66-year-old Marinich, a former minister and diplomat turned opposition leader, was released on parole on April 14.

He was sentenced to five years in prison in December 2004 on what is widely believed to be a politically motivated charge. He was found guilty of misappropriating office equipment that the Delovaya Initsiativa (Business Initiative) association, of which he was chairman, had received from the US embassy for temporary use. Members of the association testified at the trial that they had known that the equipment in question had been kept in the garage of Mr. Marinich`s son after authorities had ordered the association to vacate the rented premises. The United States repeatedly declared that the allegedly stolen computer equipment had at all times remained American property, and that the United States made no claims against Mr. Marinich or his association.

In February 2005, he had his prison sentence reduced to 3.5 years for his "past services to the state" and "deteriorated health." On August 18, 2005 the sentence was reduced by one more year under an amnesty law.

The politician had his request for release on parole rejected on September 23 last year.

mmmmm