The last appeal to the conscience

May 17th Congress of the International Ice Hockey Federation will consider the transfer of FM 2014 from Minsk.

On the eve civil campaign Free Belarus Now! made an appeal to members of Congress.

Dear Members of Congress,

Our campaign to relocate World Championship-2014 from Belarus was initiated on 21st December 2010 following the brutal crackdown on the peaceful demonstration in Minsk and at that time there were only few signatories to the relocation request.  Today hundreds of thousands have joined our campaign in numerous countries throughout Europe and beyond.  Our supporters include politicians, sport personalities, celebrities as well as members of the general public.

Lukashenko´s regime was condemned around the world, including unanimous US Senate resolution, EP resolution and recently by US Law signed by Obama in January called Belarus Democracy and Human Rights Act. Relocation of CH 2014 is integral part of all above mentioned legislative acts. Around billion citizens all over the world demand such action from IIHF Congress.

We wish to make clear to International Ice Hockey Federation that our request to have the World Ice Hockey Championship moved out of Belarus to an alternative location is not a political one.  The late President Vaclav Havel supported this campaign until his death last year – it was always clear to him that this decision must be a moral one, and not obfuscated by rules and regulations created to cover a weakness in human nature.

Anyone who even mildly opposes the Belarusian authorities is put at risk, sportsmen are not immune from this. The Olympic charter also says "Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind". This is not true in Belarus, discrimination against anyone exercising their rights to freedom of speech and expression faces serious discrimination. Sportsmen and women are forced to compromise their human rights to compete in any competition, including yours.

Sport is a universal language and a uniting force that crosses racial, cultural and class divides. It must do what it can to protect the people it unites. The Olympic charter itself says "The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity." There is no such dignity in Belarus. If the 2014 World Ice Hockey Championships are held in Belarus, the International Ice Hockey Federation will be seen to be condoning the human rights abuses inflicted on the Belarusian people and supporting, morally and financially, the Lukashenko regime.

We however do not wish to deprive the people of Belarus who have suffered so much already of the joy of being part of your event. We will campaign for visa charges to be waved for Belarusians if the championship is relocated and do all that we can to find ways to reduce their costs.

We are appealing to you on behalf of all those who have been tortured and abused by the Belarusian authorities, and those who continue to be held in unspeakable conditions for simply demanding their human rights be observed.  We find the fundamental Olympic principle that "Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles" admirable. We hope that you will be guided by this when you make your decision and satisfy legitimate demands of people from all over the world.

Sir Tom Stoppard, playwrighter

Natalia Kaliada, Political Refugee, Belarus Free Theatre

Nikolai Khalezin, Political Refugee, Belarus Free Theatre

Irina Krasovskaya, wife of kidnapped and murdered political and public figure A. Krasovsky, President of We Remember Foundation

Irina Bogdanova, sister of  Prisoner of Conscious, Founder of FreeBelarusNOW!