Twice world champion urges to cancel World Cup - 2014 in Minsk

Peter Stastny, a twice world champion in ice hockey and Slovakian member of the European Parliament, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, voiced protest against holding the ice hockey world championship in Belarus.

On March 1 together with a European deputy Marek Migalski he launched online collection of signatures under an address to the International Ice Hockey Federation in Switzerland, Telegraf informs.

“Lukashenka’s regime must not be awarded by prestige, related to holding 2014 Ice Hockey World Championship while their citizens are imprisoned for participation in peaceful protests in defence of their minimal political freedoms,” the petition reads.

“We demand the International Ice Hockey Federation to cancel their decision on holding the World Cup in Belarus in 2014, unless Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who had been controlling the power for a long time, releases all political prisoners and imposes moratorium on death penalty,” European deputies state.

The organisers of the action address everyone with a request to support this initiative. It could be done by sending a petition to the IIHF and to the national federations, or by signing the online petition www.change.org.