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Russia`s human rights ombudsman promises to look into foreign travel ban on Belarusian opposition figures

Vladimir Lukin, Russia`s commissioner for human rights, has promised to look into a foreign travel ban on Belarusian opposition figures, which his country’s authorities threatened to join, reported RIA Novosti.

Earlier this month, Vladimir Pronichev, head of Russia’s Border Guard Service, said that the citizens of Belarus who had been banned from leaving the country would not be allowed to travel abroad via Russia.

Talking to reporters in Russia’s Tomsk on Wednesday, Mr. Lukin said that he had received an appeal from human rights defenders concerned about the statement.

“The problem is that the ombudsman’s mission is to protect the rights of Russian citizens, individuals living in Russia and Russian nationals living abroad in the first place,” said Mr. Lukin, “The Belarusian citizens living in Belarus do not fall within any of the categories, which makes it difficult for the ombudsman to deal with the matter from the legal point of view. This, however, does not mean that I will leave the problem unattended.”

He suggested that human rights defenders should bring it home to Russia’s foreign ministry and other governmental agencies that the travel ban “this [the ban] is not right and runs counter to national regulations.”

Dozens of Belarusian opposition and civil society activists have lately been banned from leaving the country, but some of them managed to bypass the ban by traveling via Russia, taking advantage of the absence of checkpoints at the Russian border.

Speaking to reporters on March 1, a few days after the EU imposed travel bans and asset freezes on more citizens of Belarus, Pavel Radzivonaw, a departmental head at the Prosecutor General’s Office, said that persons calling on foreign states and international organizations to impose economic and other sanctions against Belarus might be subjected to a temporary ban on foreign travel and even to criminal prosecution.

There also may be grounds for criminal proceedings and travel bans if the government finds that damage has been caused to the image of the state, its economic or political interests, Mr. Radzivonaw said. //BelaPAN