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US envoy raises Kozulin's hunger strike at UN Security Council's session

A US envoy raised a hunger strike staged by Belarusian opposition politician Aleksandr Kozulin at a closed-door session of the UN Security Council on December 12.

The imprisoned former presidential candidate refused food between October 20 and December 11 to protest what he called the illegal reelection of Aleksandr Lukashenko for a third term and draw the international community's attention to the situation in Belarus. In particular, Dr. Kozulin pushed for a discussion of the Belarus issue in the UN Security Council.

Speaking at the session, US envoy William Brencick told colleagues that they should keep an eye on the Belarusian government's lack of freedom of expression, Reuters reported.

In response, Russia's US Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that the issue had nothing to do with the Council's business and noted that talks on Iran's nuclear program would not be constructive after the situation in Belarus had been raised at the session. The Iran talks were subsequently called off. //BelaPAN