Europe welcomes Belarus prisoner release LONDON, April 16 (UPI) -- London welcomed the release of a former Belarusian presidential candidate and his campaign chief from prison but said more was expected from Minsk. Belarusian officials last weekend released former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov and his campaign director Dmitry Bondarenko, who had been arrested following disputed December 2010 elections. Hundreds of challengers to President Alexander Lukashenko were rounded up following the election. Sannikov, one of Lukashenko's main political opponents, was reported missing from a penal colony last year. British Minister for Europe David Lidington said in a statement that London was "greatly relieved" that both leaders were released but said London was "deeply concerned" that other Lukashenko opponents remained behind bars. "It is appalling to think that in the 21st-century Europe, political prisoners still exist," President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz said in a statement. As stated by the European Parliament on several occasions, the unconditional release and full rehabilitation of all prisoners of conscience is a necessary condition for resuming dialogue with the Belarusian authorities. In September, Lukashenko pardoned 11 opposition activists captured during post-election violence in Minsk in 2010. U.N. experts had said that new laws curtailing the right to peaceful protest could worsen the "current climate of fear and intimidation" in Belarus.