Signature collecting to cancel Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk

Marek Migalski, a member of the Polish parliament, initiated signature collecting on the Internet to cancel the 2014 Ice Hockey World Championship in Belarus.

Marek Migalski writes in his appeal:

“The International Ice Hockey Federation decided to hold an ice hockey championship in Belarus in 2014.

Repressions against the opposition, NGOs and independent media go on in Belarus. Civil liberties are restricted and human rights are violated in the country.

Alyaksnadr Lukashenka's opponents at the election and other dissidents still remain in prisons. The prison authorities do not respect basic rights of inmates. There is not news from prisoners for weeks. One of the political prisoners, Mikalai Autukhovich, has recently cut his veins in prison.”

Member of the European Parliament Marek Migalski launched a campaign “Leave the dictator on the ice” to collect signatures under a petition to the International Ice Hockey Federation and the National Federations to move the championship to another country,” “Narodnaya Volya” newspaper writes.

The organizer of the campaign welcomes everyone to support the initiative by sending a letter to the International Ice Hockey Federation and national federations or by signing the petition online on www.dyktatornalodzie.pl.

We remind that Swedish media report on February 27 with a link to the IIHF Communications Director Szymon Szemberg the IIHF congress is expected to review in May the decision on hosting the 2014 world championship. The chair of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation, Yauheny Vorsin, denied this information.

Szemberg said on February 28: the IIHF does not rule out a possibility of raising a question on moving the championship at a congress in May.