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| - The Council of Europe Friday urged Belarus not to ill-treat or detain protesters who have been hit by a police crackdown over their demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko's disputed re-election. Thousands of people have been arrested, hundreds wounded and at least two people have died in the unrest following Sunday's vote, as opponents call for Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet country with an iron grip since 1994, to step down. "The situation in Belarus is of ongoing concern," said Marija Pejcinovic Buric, head of the council -- Europe's oldest human rights organisation. "I therefore call on the Belarusian authorities to guarantee freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, and to refrain from detaining peaceful demonstrators as well as from any kind of ill-treatment of protesters," she said in a statement. "Belarus needs to fully engage with civil society and this needs to start without delay." Buric said the council and its expert bodies stood ready to work with Belarus and support a reform process. The main challenger in Belarus's disputed presidential vote, Sveltana Tikhanovskaya, has called for mass weekend rallies across the country in support of her claim that she won the election. The European Union said Friday it would begin the process of imposing sanctions on Belarus, calling the situation "a matter of grave concern". Belarus, the only state in Europe to still carry out the death penalty, is not a member of the Council of Europe. The Strasbourg-based body, separate from the European Union, has no binding powers but brings together 47 member states -- including Russia and Turkey -- to make recommendations on rights and democracy. cp/ech/mlr/lc
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