MINSK, March 15 (RIA Novosti) - Customs officers in Belarus refused to let in a batch of U.S. camping gear Wednesday, four days before the country's presidential elections.
Belarusian law-enforcement authorities said the freight, worth an estimated $200,000 and containing tents, sleeping bags, warm clothing and footwear, could be used by the country's opposition for setting up street camps during the March 19 vote. They said the camps staged by Ukrainian opposition activists and supporters during the "orange revolution" in November 2004 had played a crucial role in deposing the incumbent government.
In a separate development, an opposition activist was detained in the Belarusian capital Minsk Wednesday. Anatoly Lebedko, supporting Opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich in a campaign against the incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko, was placed in custody after promotional leaflets had been found in his car, police officials said.
Lukashenko has been the ex-Soviet nation's president for the past 12 years.
International observers have expressed serious doubts next Sunday's election in Belarus will be free and fair.
Last Thursday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) issued a statement condemning Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by the U.S. State Department, for creating a climate of intimidation against the Opposition.
