Brussels, 31/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - In response to the latest developments of the situation in Belarus, the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday 31 January adopted a new list of sanctions against around 160 named people, including President Alexander Lukashenko. The Council decision, which will come into force with its publication in the Official Journal of the EU of Tuesday 1 or Wednesday 2 February re-imposes the visa ban that was suspended in 2008 and freezes the assets of those persons specifically named. The list includes the names of some people against whom similar measures were taken in 2004 and 2006 (when the visa ban was suspended in 2008, the freeze on assets continued). 119 others have been added because of their direct involvement in the repression of the democratic opposition following the presidential elections on 19 December.
Following a proposal from Sweden and Poland, the Council decided, too, to give Catherine Ashton, the head of the European diplomatic corps, the option of imposing economic sanctions against Belarusian companies, the list of which will be decided after consultation.
The adoption of sanctions comes as the Belarusian authorities have begun conditionally to release a number of opponents who are currently imprisoned. On Saturday 29 January, leading opposition figures, presidential candidate Vladimir Nikolaiev, the wife of another candidate and renowned journalist Irina Chalip, and a colleague of Nikolaiev were released into house arrest. Further arrests were carried out, however, on Sunday 30 January after a wave of demonstrations organised by supporters of those detained in Minsk and other cities. (A.By./transl.rt)