" ... the government of Belarus, as one of the 54 states participating in the Vienna-based Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe ... " OSCE chief urges Belarus to free opposition leader VIENNA, April 1 (Reuters) - OSCE chief Knut Vollebaek on Thursday urged Belarus to free opposition leader and former prime minister Mikhail Chigir, saying his arrest on Tuesday was designed to disrupt an unofficial presidential poll set for May. Chigir is one of two candidates seeking to contest the election. The vote was planned by parliamentarians dismissed in 1996 by President Alexander Lukashenko after a referendum which extended his term of office and gave him sweeping new powers. Belarussian authorities have declared the planned election illegal, and newspapers publishing details of the poll have been threatened with closure. ``The arrest is an unjustified political manoeuvre against the opposition, designed to quash its presidential election efforts,'' said Vollebaek, who is also Norway's foreign minister. Vollebaek said the Belarus government, as one of the 54 states participating in the Vienna-based Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, had an obligation to respect democratic principles.
