MINSK -- Veteran Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva says that she is very concerned about the human rights situation in Belarus, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.
Alekseyeva, chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Committee, said in Minsk that she was very concerned by the expulsion from Belarus last month of seven Russian and three Ukrainian International Monitoring Mission activists.
She said she did not tell anyone beforehand about her plans to visit Minsk for fear she, too, might be deported.
Alekseyeva, 83, added that "it is very worrisome that there are political prisoners in Belarus" and that political activists' lawyers are under pressure.
"A country that has political prisoners cannot be called a democratic country and should be permanently at the center of attention of all civilized countries," she said.
Read more in Belarusian here
Alekseyeva, chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Committee, said in Minsk that she was very concerned by the expulsion from Belarus last month of seven Russian and three Ukrainian International Monitoring Mission activists.
She said she did not tell anyone beforehand about her plans to visit Minsk for fear she, too, might be deported.
Alekseyeva, 83, added that "it is very worrisome that there are political prisoners in Belarus" and that political activists' lawyers are under pressure.
"A country that has political prisoners cannot be called a democratic country and should be permanently at the center of attention of all civilized countries," she said.
Read more in Belarusian here