Three Russian human rights observers attending the trials in Belarus of opposition activists have been expelled from the country, their organisation said on Saturday. The Committee on International Control over the Human Rights Situation in Belarus said its three representatives at the trials - Lyubov Zakharova, Yekaterina Korosteleva and Irina Paykacheva - were arrested in Minsk on Friday night.
"The Russian human rights representatives were released at about midnight with an order for them to leave the territory of Belarus within 24 hours," the organisation said in a statement. The three women had been monitoring the trials in Minsk of about 16 opposition activists who took part in mass street protests on December 19 against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.
They include three opposition leaders who ran against him. The human rights organisation said the three had been told that their presence in Belarus was either forbidden or unwanted. The interior ministry had no comment to make. Those on trial face charges of organising civil disturbances or disrupting public order which can carry jail sentences of up to 15 years.
The police crackdown on the Minsk demonstration, in which hundreds of opposition activists and dissidents were rounded up, was condemned by rights groups and Western governments. The opposition said his re-election was rigged. The United States and the European Union have since blacklisted Lukashenko because of the crackdown, imposing sanctions including a travel ban on him and 150 of his closest associates in power.
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