31 March 2008
Dmitry Medvedev's secretariat says that it received appeal for Kazulin support
The secretariat of Dmitry Medvedev said that it had received an appeal urging the Russian president-elect to demand the release of Belarusian former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin.
The appeal was sent earlier this month by prominent opposition politician Syarhey Skrabets and his brother, Alyaksandr.
Syarhey Skrabets told BelaPAN that they had received the reply on March 28.
"It is encouraging," he said. "The positive thing is that the letter reached Dmitry Medvedev's secretariat and he was notified of it. We have not received such notifications earlier, and our appeals sometimes never reached Russian government officials."
On March 10, the two brothers went on indefinite hunger strike in protest against the imprisonment of Dr. Kazulin.
Mr. Skrabets expressed the opinion that democratic changes in Belarus “depend on Russia to a great extent.” “We would like the new Russian leadership to devote attention to this. We hope that Medvedev will influence the Belarusian authorities and Kazulin will be released,” he said.
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