BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

24/11/2007

Belarus to bar more than 100,000 people from leaving the country

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - More than 100,000 people _ roughly one of every 100 citizens _ will be barred from leaving Belarus after Jan. 1, the interior minister told journalists Saturday.

The list of those unable to travel abroad will include people who are serving suspended sentences, have access to state secrets, owe alimony or

are otherwise in debt, Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov said.

"It is not possible to say the list will be short," he said. "More than 100,000 people will be on it.

Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich expressed fears that the "black list" could be used to prevent opposition activists from maintaining contacts with Western politicians.

"I have had problems on the border more than once and would not be surprised if (President Alexander) Lukashenko's government tried to put opposition members on the list," Milinkevich said.

The interior minister said police will attempt to notify people ahead of time that they are on the list so they do not find out when trying to leave the country.

Lukashenko, often branded by Western countries as "Europe's last dictator," has accused the West, and particularly the United States, of supporting Belarusian opposition parties.

In October, thousands of opposition activists shouting "freedom" marched through the center of Minsk, the country's capital, to pressure Lukashenko to forge closer ties to Europe.

He has been president of the country of 10 million people since 1994.

Source:

http://www.pr-inside.com/belarus-to-bar-more-than-r315818.htm