Angela Merkel demanded release of Belarusian political prisoners

Political prisoners in Belarus should obtain the possibility to speak and act freely.

Angela Merkel spoke of that to Bundestag members, Radio Svaboda reports.

“Political prisoners are still behind bars after the latest wave of repressions after the presidential elections of December 2010. Citizens, who stood for pluralism in their state, were thrown to prisons. Among others I mean Ales Bialatski too, the laureate of the European Human Rights Award. We all want for these people to get the possibility to speak and act freely”, - she claimed.

Angela Merkel also noted in her speech that the European Union is ready to support Ukraine on the reform path, however Kiev must meet certain conditions for its rapprochement with Brussels.

“We know that reforms cannot be made in one day. We want to support reforms in Ukraine, we offer cooperation, in particular the financial benefits of participating in the EU’s partnership policy. But there are conditions that Ukraine needs to meet for that, and this must be done not at some point, but now”, - Angela Merkel highlighted in her speech to Bundestag.

According to the chancellor, the European Union still does not understand whether Kiev intends to meet these conditions.

Ukrainian leadership counts on signing an Association Agreement with the EU at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in late November. At the same time Ukraine’s parliament did not pass the main draft laws in European integration domain, and particularly did not solve the issue of former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko’s medical treatment abroad.

Photo: AFP