Belarus has own list of people banned from entering country

• 21.03.2012, 14:51

Lukashenka supporters are angry at the EU travel ban, but it's not the first year when Belarus bans entry to the country for citizens of other states to enter Belarus.

“Nasha Niva” newspaper made an incomplete list of people who were denied a Belarusian visa or banned from entering the country.

Unlike Europeans, whose list is open, the Belarusian authorities do not make their blacklist public. People are informed about the entry ban after they submitted documents for a visa or at the Minsk airport.

Belarus, a small country, has a list of banned persons longer than Russian one, the newspaper reports.

Here is an incomplete list of people, who were denied entry to Belarus.

Markus Loening, German Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy, denied entry in February 2012;

Andrei Yurov, the head of the International Observation Mission of the Committee on International Control over the human rights situation in Belarus, denied entry in 2011;

Souhayr Belhassen, the President of the International Federation on Human Rights, denied a visa to Belarus in October 2011;

Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, denied a visa in October 2011;

Astrid Sahm, the IBB Director, told at the Minsk National Airport he is banned from entering the country in March 2012;

Yevgeny Wapa, the leader of Polish Belarusians, editor of Belarusian newspaper in Poland “Niva”, got his visa annulled and received an “entry denied” stamp on his passport;

Khvedar Nyunka, the leader of Belarusians in Lithiania, denied a visa in June 2011;

Marek Migalski, a Polish member of the European Parliament, ordered to get off the train on Belarusian border in June 2011;

Uta Zapf, the OSCE PA Rapporteur on Belarus, denied a visa in May 2011;

Adrian Severin, the UN Special Rapporteur of Human Rights Situation in Belarus, denied a visa in 2005;

Arturas Zuokas, the Mayor of Vilnius (Lithuania), denied a visa in December 2011;

Syarhei Shupa, a journalist of the Belarusian Service of RFE/RL (Prague), denied a visa in March 2012;

Yury Dzhibladze, a member of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society Development, told by Belarusian border guards on the Lithuanian-Belarusian Border he was banned from entering the country in 2011;

Swedish trade union activists got their visas annulled in September 2011;

Janusz Onyszkiewicz, the Vice President of the European Parliament, stopped on the Belarusian border in 2007;

Six members of the Polish Sejm Committee on Liaison with Poles Abroad denied entry to Belarus in February 2012;

Lars-Ove Jansson, the head of the regional structure of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, denied a visa in January 2012;

Carl Morten Iversen, William Nygaard, Trygve Åslund, representatives of the Norwegian PEN Centre and Niels-Ivar Larsen, a representative of the Danish PEN Centre, were denied visas at Minsk-2 airport in December 2011;

Konstantin Rautsky, a member of the Ukrainian human rights centre “Postup”, denied entry to the country in December 2011;

Marie Manson, a Swedish representative of Сivil Right Defenders, denied a visa in October 2011;

Ane Bonde and Daiva Petkeviciute, Norwegian representatives of the Human Rights House Foundation, denied visas in October 2011;

Mariana Rocha, a Belgium representative of Partnership for Human Rights, denied a visa in October 2011;

Berit Lindeman, a representative of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, denied a visa in October 2011;

Antoine Bernard, the FIDH Executive Director, denied a visa in October 2011;

Vladimir Senko, a Ukrainian representative of the International Observation Mission of the Committee on International Control over the human rights situation in Belarus, denied entry to the country and declared a persona grata person in September 2011;

Nick Sturdee and Lucy Ash, BBC journalists, informed in a telephone call from the Belarusian Embassy their visas were annulled;

Members of the European People's Party denied visas in May 2011;

Alexander Mamay, the advisor of the mayor of Poltava (Ukraine), denied entry to the country in May 2011;

Yury Isayev, a member of Poltava city council, denied entry to the country in May 2011;

Ivan Kondratenko, a Russian human rights activist, deported from Belarus in April 2011;

Marina Tsapok, a Ukrainian human rights activist, stopped on the border by Belarusian border guards in April 2011;

Maksim Kitsuk, a Ukrainian human rights activist, told by Homel border guards his name on the database has an “entry denied” mark in March 2011;

Lubov Zakharova, Ekaterina Korosteleva and Irina Paykacheva, Russian nationals, ordered to leave Belarus within 24 hours after declaring them persona non grata in May 2011;

Alexander Mnatsakanyan, a Russian human rights activist, deported from Belarus in May 2011 and banned entry to the country for 2 years;

Viktoria Gromova, a Russian human rights activist, deported from Belarus in May 2011 and banned entry to the country for 2 years;

Inna Sangazhiyeva, a Russian national, denied entry to Belarus in 2011;

Olga Shamshur, a Ukrainian national, denied entry to Belarus in 2011;

Rachel Denber, a representative of Human Rights Watch, denied a visa in October 2011;

Galina Rudnik, a Germany-based RFE/RL journalist, denied a visa in October 2011;

Christian Holm, a member of the Swedish Parliament, denied a visa in March 2011;

Longin Komolowski, the chair of the Polish association Wspólnota Polska, stopped on the Belarusian border in August 2011;

Rodiom Marinich, a correspondent of Russian Dozhd TV (Rain TV), ordered to leave the country in May 2011;

Igor Karamzin, a journalist for “Moskovsky Komsomolets” newspaper, deported from the country in October 2011;

Magdalena Kalinowska, a member of Institutum Orientalium foundation, deported in 2011;

Kinga Ksiazek, a member of Institutum Orientalium foundation, deported in 2011;

Julianna Grynec, Andreas Schelhas, Janina Rolik, Guido Hansen, Jan Hendrik Krop, Katrin Heinrich, and Dorota Kubaszewska, citizens of Poland and Germany, deported for an anti-nuclear picket in April 2011;

Mikhail Kamenev, the deputy head of the Ukrainian youth organization “Regional Initiative Foundation”, stopped on the border in April 2011;

Ruta Lankininkaite and Jonas Griskonis, Lithuanian journalists, got their visas annulled on the Belarusian border in August 2011;

Zilvinas Abaravicius, the head of the international relations department of the Vilnius mayor's office, denied a visa in December 2011;

Christos Pourgourides, a member of the Parliament of Cyprus, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the PACE. Andrei Bushyla, the head of the Belarusian Mission to the Council of Europe, said a the PACE meeting the politician could not be issued a Belarusian visa;

Agnieszka Romaszewska, the director of Polish Belsat TV, denied a visa in 2009;

Marta Szymanska, a student of the Department of Belarusian Studies at the University of Warsaw, got her visa annulled and received an “entry denied” stamp on her passport in 2009;

Robert Hort, the Secretary General of the Swedish Helsinki Committee, denied a visa in 2009;

Ioanna Kurach, a member of the Swedish Helsinki Committee, denied a visa in 2009;

Martin Ugla, a Swedish citizen having contacts with Belarusian human rights activists, denied a visa in 2009;

Lukasz Byrski, a representative of the Dutch Embassy in Warsaw, denied a visa in 2009;

David Hamilton, a representative of the National Democratic Institute in Kyiv, put on the list of people banned from entering Belarus in 2009;

Esther Mugambi, an Australian actress, and Stephanie Pan, a American actress, were going to visit Belarus on the invitation by the Free Theatre, but were denied entry to Belarus at Minsk-2 airport in 2008;

Cornelia Rabitz, the head of the Belarusian service at Deutsche Welle radio, denied a visa in 2008;

Kristiina Ojuland, the Vice Speaker of the Parliament of Estonia, denied a visa in 2008;

Krzysztof Putra, the Vice Speaker of the Senate of Poland, stopped on the border for no reason in 2007;

Robert Tyszkiewicz, a member of the Polish Sejm, stopped on the border for no reason in 2007;

Giga Bakaria, a member of the Parliament of Georgia, a CIS observer at the Belarusian presidential election, denied entry in 2006;

Mirek Toda, a Slovakian journalist, denied a visa in 2006;

Natallia Alekseyeva, a member of the Olof Palme International Center (Sweden), denied entry in 2007.