Paroubek met representatives of the opposition Belarussian Social Democratic Party with whom he signed a cooperation agreement. "I think that as an opposition representative I can go there easier before the elections than if I were the Czech prime minister," Paroubek said. Paroubek said he supposed he would meet government representatives in Belarus as well. "I will ask them to be fair to the representatives of the Belarussian Social Democrats," Paroubek said. Paroubek stressed that two years ago, chairman of the Belarussian Social Democrat Party Alyaksandr Kozulin had been sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for organising an unauthorised demonstration against the re-election of Belarussian authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Kozulin, 52, the most prominent Belarussian political prisoner, Czech Social Democrats against risky foreign missions ...
V4 countries back Ukraine, Georgia's ambition to join NATO ... has refused to leave the prison in exchange for emigration. Lukashenko's regime has been repeatedly criticised for its brutal repressions and subjected to EU sanctions. Paroubek today called on other members of the European Socialist Party to support the Belarussian Social Democrats. Members of the European Socialist Party met at a conference on the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Prague Spring reform movement in Prague today. "We want to support our sister parties in eastern Europe.
The Belarussian party is working in very difficult conditions," Paroubek said. The backing may have the form of training, sharing of experience and "may be also of financial help," Paroubek said.
(Ceske Noviny)
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