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NGOs, MEPs call for moving 2014 world hockey championship from Belarus

 

International organizations and members of the European Parliament have petitioned the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to move the 2014 World Ice Hockey Championship from Belarus to a different venue.

The decision to allow Belarus to host the World Championship is “contrary to what we believe are the values of IIHF,” the petitioners say.

“The country is ruled by President Aleksander Lukashenko [Alyaksandr Lukashenka] whose prisons currently hold at least 11 political prisoners,” the petition says. “Among them we find Nobel Peace Prize nominee and human rights defender Ales Bialiatski [Byalyatski] and members of the political opposition. In Belarus, elections are falsified, free media is suppressed, and youth are harassed and persecuted for their opinions.”

“We do not want to turn a sports event into a political spectacle,” the petition says. “Unfortunately, we are convinced that is exactly how Aleksander Lukashenko will use the event. To host the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship is an honor for any ice-hockey-loving nation; unfortunately, it also poses a great opportunity for Aleksander Lukashenko to shed a positive light on himself and his regime.”

By allowing the championship to take place in Belarus, “you support and legitimize a regime which violates the human rights of the people of Belarus in an alarming way,” the petition says. “You would be playing with a dictator. The IIHF World Championship should only take place in Belarus after the Government of Belarus has proven progress in the field of human rights, most importantly by releasing all political prisoners.”

The petition was signed by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Libereco - Partnership for Human Rights, Ostgruppen - Swedish Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, Washington-based Freedom House, the Czech-registered Association for Modernization, and UK-based Liberal International. The petitioners include MEPs Marek Migalski, Werner Schulz, Peter Stastny, Manuel Sarrazin, Marieluise Beck, and Caroline Szyber.

The International Ice Hockey Federation has repeatedly warned that it will not move the championship from Belarus to a different venue. // BelaPAN