BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/08/2007

US widens visa ban on Belarus officials

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States expanded the list of politicians and government officials serving under hardline Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko that are banned from visiting America.

The initial list, adopted by Washington in May 2006, comprised nearly 40 names including Lukashenko and others suspected of repressing human rights and committing fraud during presidential elections in the former Soviet republic.

"(T)he regime of Aleksandr Lukashenka has continued to imprison and harass persons for speaking out in favor of democracy, holding peaceful demonstrations, and opposing the repressive policies of the regime," said a statement from the US embassy in Minsk.

"Despite some initial minor easing this spring of repressive measures, we have seen a renewed deterioration in the human rights and democracy situation in Belarus in the past few weeks," it added.

As a result the US state department was suspending "the entry into the United States ... of persons responsible for policies or actions that threaten the transition to democracy in Belarus."

The expanded restrictions covered deputy ministers, the chief prosecutor and his deputies, interior ministry officials with a rank of lieutenant-colonel or above, the head of presidential administration and his deputies, electoral commission officials nationwide, the president of the constitutional court, the directors of state enterprises and their deputies, the embassy said.

The measures would also affect the spouses of the designated people, it added.

US President George W. Bush, in a June 5 speech in Prague, had called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of dissidents in countries including Belarus.

Source:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070807/pl_afp/usbelarussanctions_070807210936