U.S. and Europe Plan Sanctions Against BelarusBy C. J. CHIVERS
Published: March 25, 2006MINSK, Belarus, March 24 — The United States and Europe said Friday that they would impose sanctions against President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus and other top officials for cracking down on a peaceful protest over his re-election, which was widely seen as a sham.
The swift and nearly unanimous condemnations from Western nations widened their rift with Belarus and posed new challenges for their relations with Russia, which has stood behind Mr. Lukashenko.
The United States stopped short of cutting its ties with the Belarus government, but a senior State Department official said that travel and financial restrictions already in place on "fewer than a dozen" Belarussian government officials would probably be extended to more than 50, including Mr. Lukashenko.
The European Union announced similar moves.
The announcements came as Belarussian authorities were processing hundreds of demonstrators in a Soviet-era prison here in the capital, and holding what the opposition described as closed trials without legal representation or defense witnesses.
The opposition also said that since their members were arrested in a police sweep early Friday morning, many detainees had been beaten, denied the use of toilets, forced to stand for hours in subfreezing temperatures, and packed nearly by the score into small prison cells.
