BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

19.02.2006

Polish journalist refused entry into Belarus

Minsk (PAP) - A Gazeta Wyborcza journalist was denied entry into Belarus on Sunday. Waclaw Radziwinowicz said Belarusian border guards told him that he was on a list of people not allowed to enter the country and did not explain any reasons behind the decision.

Radziwinowicz told PAP his Belarussian visa was valid for a year and that he had accreditation with the Belarussian Foreign Ministry.

The journalist was told to return to Poland on the same train he had arrived. Ho told PAP in a phone interview he had been seeking to interview Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and was going to Belarus to meet a member of the presidential administration.

Radziwinowicz has not been the first Polish journalist barred from entering Belarus. In mid-December 2005 Polish TVP television journalist Agnieszka Romaszewska was deported after authorities detained her at the airport as she tried to return to Minsk.

Source:

http://euro.pap.net.pl/cgi-bin/europap.pl?grupa=46&dzien=0&ID=76846