Belarus denies visa to Swedish human rights activist

The Belarusian Embassy in Stockholm has once again denied visa to Martin Uggla, chairman of Östgruppen, a Swedish human rights group.  The Belarusian embassy did not elaborate on the reasoning of this decision, but it was most likely politically motivated, human rights activist Valiantsin Stefanovich told Euroradio.

Stefanovich: “He has been denied visa systematically, especially ahead of election".

He reckons that visa denials to foreign human rights activists is a common phenomenon ahead of elections in Belarus. Stefanie Schiffer, director of Germany-based human rights group European Exchange was denied Belarus visa about a month ago.