Opposition presidential candidate freed after being detained in post-election rally

[News_Editor]

Opposition presidential candidate freed after being detained in post-election rally

2011-01-04 01:17:34 GMT+7 (ICT)

MINSK, BELARUS (BNO NEWS) -- A Belarus' opposition party on Monday announced that presidential candidate Vitaly Rymashevsky was freed after being detained two weeks ago in post-election rally.

According to RIA Novosti, the Belorussian Christian Democrat Party announced that his former presidential candidate was released from the KGB (state security agency) pre-trial detention center on Saturday after pledging not to leave the country.

Rymashevsky, 35, was one of he six opposition candidates who were arrested in Minsk last December 19 after participating in a rally in protest of the controversial election results, which saw President Alexander Lukashenko win a landslide to secure a fourth term in office.

The electoral process was marred with inconsistencies, especially during vote count in which international observers assessed almost half of the vote counts monitored as 'bad' or 'very bad'.

According to official election results, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko won re-election with 79.7 percent of the vote. The number was released after all votes had been counted.

The Belorussian Prosecutor General's Office said that the candidates detained who are currently in custody are healthy, in an attempt to ease rumors that alleged that the detainees were sick and held under poor conditions.

The candidates were beaten and taken by KGB agents to undisclosed facilities until it was recently informed that they were held at a KGB detention center.

The rally was dispersed as some participants attempted to storm he parliament. Approximately, more than 630 people were detained at the rally and some 400, including Russian nationals, have been released.

A spokesman for the police said that two Russian nationals were still in custody as of Monday. One is held at the KGB pre-trial detention center while the other is currently at the Interior Ministry's detention center.

Belarus is expected to release some 150 people who were held during the unsanctioned rally in Minsk in the coming days.

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