Yarmoshyna's vis-a-vis not allowed to leave country

Observer Viktar Karnyaenka was not allowed to leave Belarus to visit an OSCE conference.

Co-chairman of the campaign “For Fair Elections” Viktar Karnyaenka couldn't leave for Vienna to take part in the OSCE meeting on elections. He received an “exit denied” stamp in his passport at the airport.

“I got an 'exit denied' stamp in my passport. I photographed it and my boarding part. They did not explain anything and just said I could not leave the country,” Karnyaenka told Interfax-Zapad news agency.

He supposes it was done to prevent him from taking part in the conference. “I also connect this decision to our campaign 'For Fair Elections'. The authorities are preparing for the election campaign in such a way,” the co-head of the civil initiative says.

Karnyaenka says he will definitely appeal against today's decision to deny exit from Belarus .

Karnyaenka says the materials for observation of the forthcoming parliamentary election were seized from his home on Wednesday.

As charter97.org already reported, co-head of the campaign “For Free Elections” was to take part in the OSCE meeting on democratic elections and election observation . The head of the Belarusian Central Election Commission, Lidzia Yarmoshyna, who is banned from entering the EU countries, visits Vienna to participate in the conference, though the OSCE did not invite the CEC head to Vienna. Viktar Karnyaenka planned to represent an alternative point of view and talk about harassment against opposition members.