Belarusian authorities often don’t let the foreigners who have active contacts with public and political activists into the country or deport them. Sometimes even Belarusian citizens aren’t allowed to go abroad, which can be a sign of restoration of the so-called “iron curtain” that existed during the soviet times. Several cases have already taken place during the first two months of 2005.(15-FEB-2005)
1. Belarusian Consulate in Bialystok refused to issue visa to the chief editor of the weekly of Belarusians in Poland Niva and the head of Belarusian Union in Poland Eugeniusz Wappa without any comments.
In his interview to RFE/RL Mr. Wappa said:
— I consider it as the confession of the role which Niva plays in the life of Belarusians. We try to touch different aspects of life, including Belarus. We write about it in our articles… I think this is the reason for the refusal. It’d be also a good thing to ask the Consul about it, but Geneva Convention frees consulates from answering to such questions.
Before that, Belarusian Consulate in Bialystok refused visa to the journalist Jerzy Kalina, who deals with Belarusian topics and whose documental films about Belarus received awards at prestigious European festivals.
2. The editor of the non-state newspaper Shklowskiya Naviny Aliaksandr Shcharbak was going to Poland and was very surprised at the refusal of the passport and visa service, to permit to him a short travel abroad “because of the check-up that was conducted by Shklow District Tax Inspection”. Vital Vaskowski confirmed this information and said it was the first case of the kind in his work.
The check-up concerns the period when Aliaksandr Shcharbakow worked at the private firm “Sidler and Co.” that traded wood. In 1996 he was the executive director of the firm. Then the firm owners fired him and soon the form was liquidated. The tax inspection informed Shcharbakow that the debt of the firm to the tax inspection was 8 000 Belarusian rubles (about 3 USD). This debt is the official reason why he is not let abroad.
Aliaksandr Shcharbak has no doubts concerning the real reason why he is deprived of the right to go abroad:
— This is the continuation of the pressurization from the side of the law machinery, including Shklow KGB and prosecutor’s office. At first they fined me for distribution of some fly-sheets and now don’t let me to travel abroad. It is either an attempt to intimidate me or slowly repress me. It is pure politics.
