Belarus Blocks Another Critic From Going To EU
March 15, 2012
MINSK -- Another Belarusian opposition activist has been blocked from traveling to a European Union country.
Zhana Litvina, head of the Belarus Association of Journalists, a media-freedom watchdog, told RFE/RL that border guards at Minsk's airport prevented her from taking a flight to the Polish capital, Warsaw, on March 15.
She said the officials gave no explanation.
In a March 15 statement, the Belarus Association of Journalists condemned unlawful travel restrictions and "increased pressure on journalists" by prosecutors and the Belarusian KGB.
Four journalists and about half a dozen other activists have been blocked from leaving Belarus recently.
Officials have declined to comment on reports that the government has compiled a list of journalists, opposition activists and human rights defenders who are forbidden to leave Belarus.
Officials deny opposition accusations that a list of people banned from traveling to the West has been drawn up in response to new targeted EU sanctions on officials in the regime of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka over repression of the political opposition.
Copyright (c) 2010-2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.