UN panel calls on Belarus to release Nobel Peace laureate from prison

A United Nations panel of human rights experts has called on Belarus to release the Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder of the country’s most respected rights group, who has been behind bars for three years. Ales Bialiatski’s imprisonment came amid a widespread crackdown on opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko after mass protests over an election whose allegedly manipulated results gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in a Thursday statement that “the basis for the arrest and subsequent detention of Mr. Bialiatski was his exercise of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly” and called for his release.