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Asylum Offered for Belarus Opposition

WARSAW — Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski went to his country's border with Belarus on Sunday and offered Poland's support to opponents of its authoritarian government, news channel TVN24 reported.

"There is a growing wave of reprisals against the Belarussian opposition. … Poland will continue to support Belarussian citizens' drive to build civil society," Komorowski said in the border town of Kuznica Bialostocka.

"Our country's authorities will most favorably consider requests for political asylum by Belarussians engaged in pro-democratic activities," he added.

Poland has long opposed the authoritarian rule of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994.

Komorowski followed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which condemned on Friday the legal crackdown on opposition activists in Belarus, including a four-year prison sentence for Vasily Parfenkov, jailed for his part in a December rally against Lukashenko's re-election.

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