Belarus frees opposition leader

Belarusian opposition leader Andrei Sannikov has been released from prison, his wife Irina Khalip told AP. Khalip said the release could be a sign that the Belarusian government is trying to effect an ease in Western pressure. Sannikov, along with other opposition leaders, was jailed in December 2010 following protests against the results of the presidential election, in which Sannikov participated but was beaten by long-term President Aleksandr Lukashenko. The US and the EU have been called for an end to political repression in Belarus and imposed sanctions on the country. In February Belarus expelled the Polish Ambassador to the country, while EU member countries retaliated by recalling all of their ambassadors from Minsk.