Polish parliamentarians condemned recent arrests of Polish activists in Belarus and called for sanctions to be considered in a resolution passed today in the legislature's lower house, according to dpa. Belarus officials were violating "basic human and citizen rights, which are the foundations of modern Europe," the resolution said. Warsaw has strongly condemned the arrests Monday of some 40 members of the Union of Poles in Belarus, an organization banned by President Aleksander Lukashenko's regime. President Lech Kaczynski sent a letter Tuesday to Lukashenko asking him to "personally act to stabilize the situation of Polish minorities," his chancellery said. Kaczynski expressed his "disquiet and strong disapproval to the growing repression" of Polish minorities. The crackdown continued Wednesday as Belarusian police arrested nine ethnic Polish activists, and stopped leader Angelika Boris in her car as she drove to a court hearing in the capital Minsk. European Union foreign ministers were set next week to reassess relations with Belarus, an EU official said.
