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Another opposition politician barred from leaving Belarus

Prominent opposition politician Vintsuk Vyachorka was not allowed to leave Belarus in the early hours of Thursday.

The former leader of the Belarusian Popular Front was told by Belarusian border guards that he was under a foreign travel ban and was ordered off a Warsaw-bound train.

The politician had planned to travel to the Polish capital in company with his 14-year-old daughter.

As Mr. Vyachorka told BelaPAN, he was informed by the police on March 13 that he was not barred from foreign travel and was even issued with a document certifying that. However, as he produced the paper at the border, a senior border control officer "replied that the document does not mean anything and that he has internal orders."

Mr. Vyachorka planned to visit a police office again to receive explanations.

Speaking to reporters on March 1, a few days after the European Union imposed travel bans and asset freezes on more Belarusian officials, Pavel Radzivonaw, a departmental head at the Prosecutor General’s Office, said that persons calling on foreign states and international organizations to impose economic and other sanctions against Belarus might be subjected to a temporary ban on foreign travel and even to criminal prosecution.

After that, a dozen people, including journalists, human rights defenders and political activists, were denied permission to cross the Belarusian border without being given an explanation.

In an interview with a Russian TV channel earlier this week, Alyaksandr Lukashenka acknowledged the practice of barring his political opponents from foreign travel and warned that the blacklist would be extended. //BelaPAN