Birthday greetings for Ales Bialiatski: Štefan Füle
Commissioner for Enlargement and European
Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle has sent a message to one of Belarusian
political prisoners, the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski who is
celebrating his 50th birthday.
"I am sorry to convey my birthday
wishes to you to a place where you definitely do not belong," Commissioner
Füle wrote. "I am sending you the message of our continuing support for
your cause. You have become a visible and powerful symbol of all the failures
of the regime when it comes to respect of European values and human rights.
There is nothing to justify the treatment you are facing. On every occasion we
repeat our demand to the Belarusian authorities to immediately and
unconditionally release and rehabilitate you," reads the birthday message
to Mr Bialiatski who has been in prison since August 2011 and sentenced last
November to four and half years in a penal colony for his human rights
activities.
On the occasion of Mr Bialiatski's birthday Commissioner Füle
recalled the fact that the normalisation of the EU´s relations with the
Belarusian regime cannot take place unless all political prisoners are released
and rehabilitated.
