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Member of Polish Senate denied entry into Belarus

A member of Poland’s Senate was not allowed to enter Belarus on April 22.

Stanislaw Gogacz, who represents the Law and Justice party in the upper parliamentary house, had planned to travel to Hrodna to attend the final session of a Polish language dictation campaign organized by ethnic Poles resident in Belarus, according to Poland’s PAP news agency. However, he was turned away by Belarusian border guards at the Bruzhi checkpoint despite producing a diplomatic passport.

PAP said with reference to a Senate official that the Polish government could produce a formal reaction to the incident on April 23.

The incident came two months after six members of the Committee on Liaison with Poles Abroad in the Polish Sejm (lower parliamentary house) were denied entry into Belarus at the same border checkpoint. They had intended to meet with representatives of the Warsaw-backed “unofficial” Union of Poles in Belarus. //BelaPAN