U.N. warns of culture of fear in Belarus

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Belarus to release all political prisoners after a rights advocate was ordered to jail for tax evasion. A court in Belarus sentenced human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski to 4 1/2 years in prison last week on tax evasion charges. The UNHCR notes the tax evasion charges follow a series of increasingly harsh restrictions on personal liberties and the right to peaceful assembly. "We reiterate our call to the authorities in Belarus to immediately and unconditionally release all political opponents, activists and journalists jailed for exercising their fundamental human rights and to put an end to political and administrative measures designed to harass human rights defenders," said UNHCR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani. A panel of independent experts said Monday that new laws curtailing the right to peaceful protest could worsen the "current climate of fear and intimidation" in Belarus. In September, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko declared pardons for 11 opposition activists captured last year during post-election violence in Minsk. One of Lukashenko's challengers, Andrei Sannikov, was reported missing this month from a penal colony, however. The European Union in October added names to the growing list of Belarusian authorities sanctioned for their political activity. Most of the 16 names added to the list of 192 Belarusian officials barred from entering EU member states were judges who sentenced opposition figures detained after the December election.