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Activists in Vienna stage protest against Yarmoshyna`s presence at OSCE meeting

 

Activists handed out Thursday leaflets in front of the OSCE office in Vienna to protest the presence of Belarus` top election official at a conference held inside the building.

They also displayed political placards outside the OSCE office.

Ms Yarmoshyna, head of the central election commission, arrived in Vienna earlier in the day. She had been granted a visa to attend the July 12-13 Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Democratic Elections and Election Observation despite being on the European Union`s visa blacklist.

“We are standing at two places in front of the main entrance to the OSCE office and handing out our leaflets,” artist Maryna Naprushkina, who made the placards for the protest, told European Radio For Belarus. “Lidziya Yarmoshyna passed us by with her head erect but accepted a leaflet that depicted her, saying ‘That’s what popularity is about.’ After that, she disappeared inside the building with a pleased face.”

The activists planned to continue the protest on Friday to highlight their concerns about "the fact that not a single election campaign has been recognized as free and transparent" in Belarus since Ms. Yarmoshyna was appointed to chair the central election commission in 1996. //BelaPAN