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Several foreign NGO activists arrested in Mahilyow

Several foreign citizens who had arrived in Belarus at the invitation of a pro-democratic NGO were arrested in Mahilyow on September 18.

The foreigners were apprehended by police during a discussion on cooperation between Belarusian and foreign youth organizations, Yury Stukalaw, leader of Hramadzyanski Forum (Civic Forum) who had invited the foreign nationals to visit Belarus, told BelaPAN.

The participants of the discussion were brought to a police station. Five of the foreigners - a US citizen, two Germans, a Dutch national and an Austrian - may be deported from Belarus within the next few days after police officers said that the true purpose of their stay in Belarus differed from what they said in their visa applications.

Among those apprehended during the discussion also were representatives of Armenian and Russian youth groups.