Brussels, 16/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU has spoken out strongly against the sentence of five years' imprisonment handed down on Saturday 14 May to Belarusian political opponent Andreï Sannikov, the main rival in the 2010 presidential elections of the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. This sentence, which was meted out by the court of Partizansky, is politically motivated, like a number of other particularly harsh sentences handed down in recent days by other courts against representatives of civil society and the political opposition, Catherine Ashton states in a press release issued the same day. “These events are clear reminders of the significant deterioration in the respect for human rights and democratic principles in Belarus since the violations of electoral standards in presidential elections on 19 December 2010. There have been politically motivated harassment, arrests, detentions and trials of representatives of the democratic opposition, civil society and independent media”, said the high representative of the EU for foreign affairs. She also said that she was seriously concerned at reports of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners. The Belarusian authorities are called upon to cease these crackdowns against the opposition and civil society, to release all political prisoners and to put an end to political sentencing. The EU, she stressed, is ready to bring in further sanctions against Minsk in the event that the situation does not approve. Last week, the European Parliament called for the EU to take targeted economic sanctions as well as restrictive measures (freezing of assets, visa ban) already in place against President Lukashenko and a long list of officials of his regime (EUROPE 10378). (H.B./transl.fl)