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Nyaklyayew may be barred from running for president in next election because of conviction, lawyer says

The central election commission may deny Uladzimir Nyaklyayew registration as a candidate in the 2015 presidential election because of his criminal conviction, Tamara Sidarenka, the opposition politician's lawyer, told reporters in Minsk on July 25.

She stressed that Mr. Nyaklyayew's criminal record had already been cleared. "But peculiarities of Belarusian laws may influence the central election commission's opinion. It may formally reject a person's application for registration as a candidate if he was convicted of a criminal offense in the past, despite the fact that the criminal record was later cleared," Ms. Sidarenka said.

Earlier this week, a district judge in Minsk lifted all restrictions on the freedom of Mr. Nyaklyayew, who ran for president in the most recent election and was convicted over the December 2010 post-election street protest.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr. Nyaklyayew expressed fears that he may be barred from running for president in the next election because of his conviction. "I still don't know whether all of my civil rights have been restored. But I feel myself a free person and will act as a free person," he stressed. //BelaPAN