Belarusian Opposition Leader Urges Wider Hunger Strike

Kazulin in February (RFE/RL) November 27, 2006 -- Belarusian opposition leader Alyaksandr Kazulin is calling on other opposition leaders to show their solidarity by joining him on his five-week-old hunger strike.

In a statement posted on his press service's website, Kazulin said he will end his hunger strike if other opposition leaders join the protest. He has said his action is meant to galvanize the country's disunited opposition.


Kazulin is currently serving a 5 1/2-year sentence in a prison near the city of Vitebsk, close to the Russian border.

He was sentenced on July 13 on charges of hooliganism and disorderly conduct for organizing a protest against the reelection of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in March and for attempting to hold a press conference as a newly registered presidential candidate.

Kazulin's wife, Irina, said today her husband would also agree to call off his hunger strike if at least one country pledges to discuss the situation in Belarus at the UN Security Council.

Kazulin has lost almost 20 kilograms since he started fasting on October 20.

(Interfax)