Belarus Imprisons Opposition Politician (Mikhail Marinich)

[Khephra]

MINSK (Reuters) - A top opposition politician in ex-Soviet Belarus was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday in what he denounced as an attempt to block his drive to make the ex-Soviet state more democratic.

Mikhail Marinich, who ran against President Alexander Lukashenko in 1991 elections, was detained in April by the state security service, still known by its communist-era initials KGB.

An allegation of illegally owning weapons was dropped for lack of evidence and he was convicted of stealing office equipment given to his liberal think-tank by the U.S. embassy.

The embassy earlier said it had no objections to Marinich's actions, although under the court ruling he must return the equipment to the embassy.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7209814

[MissBrooks]

1. And we think we have it bad here...

[Stand and Fight]

2. We do have it bad here...

Just because it has not reached that level doesn't mean that it will not. We're headed that direction at a million miles an hour, and you know I'm not one for over the top beliefs, Brooks.

[PunkPop]

3. Exactly.

It is bad here. Saying we're better off than Belarus reminds me of a winger saying Iraqis should be grateful they're not still living under Saddam. Maybe it was a joke but it's the same basic logic.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. Tell that to the innocent prisoners in Gitmo

[MisterP]

4. Powell's socks are in a knot: Lukaschenko hasn't embrached

Thatcherism and privatization orgies, according to Wikipedia.