U.N. envoy tells Belarus to free political prisoners as U.S hints at sanctions
GENEVA, July 5 (Reuters) - The U.N. Special Rapporteur told Belarus on Monday to immediately free some 530 jailed people whom rights groups consider "political prisoners" as Washington's envoy hinted at the possibility of further economic sanctions against Minsk.
Belarusian authorities have cracked down hard after massive anti-government protests erupted last summer over voter fraud allegations at an election that handed Alexander Lukashenko a new term as president. He denies wrongdoing.
Presenting her annual report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, U.N. Special Rapporteur Anaïs Marin compared Belarus to a totalitarian state and described a "deteriorating" situation since the election.
She pointed to the forced grounding of a passenger jet in Minsk in May that led to the arrest of a dissident blogger, something she said "illustrates the desire of authorities to end all forms of dissidence by purging society of elements it considers undesirable".
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-u-n-envoy-tells-155835970.html
