The Hill News

President Obama slammed the authoritarian leader of Belarus on Saturday, during the final portions of his European tour and a day after indicating the administration would pursue new sanctions against the country.

Speaking at a joint news conference with the Polish prime minister, Obama said Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Belarusian strongman, had showed “total disregard for democratic values, the rule of law and the human rights of his own people.”

The president’s comments came not long after several candidates who opposed Lukashenko in a December presidential election were convicted and sentenced to prison for protesting the election’s results. 

Lukashenko won 80 percent of the vote in a race that neutral observers have called rigged and tainted by fraud.

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