MEPs: Agreement with сhampionship in Minsk - approval of repression

Parliamentarians from Denmark and Sweden require the abolition of the World Hockey Championship in Belarus.

Liberals in the European Parliament strongly oppose to Belarus hosting the Ice Hockey World Cup in 2014. They urge national hockey federations to revoke the decision at its upcoming International Hockey Federation meeting in Stockholm in May.

"Belarus is the last dictatorship and the only country in Europe still imposing and executing the death penalty. The judicial process is rather arbitrary, torture in prisons is not uncommon and respect for all basic human rights is absent", says Olle Schmidt (Sweden, Folkpartiet).

"From the outset we have been critical of the fact that Belarus and its dictator Aleksandr Lukasjenko were given the possibility of hosting this important event next year. It looks like it's all about sport. But in reality it's all a matter of political prestige for Lukasjenko. If the world accepts the Ice Hockey Cup being hosted in Belarus, it also accepts the regime's assault on the country's population", Schmidt warns.

Morten Løkkegaard (Denmark, Venstre), vice-chair of the Parliament's Culture Committee, says: 

"The sports world still has a long way to go as concerns clear guidelines for allocating sport events to countries where human rights are violated. We strongly urge the hockey associations to communicate openly and transparently on the underlying motivation to choose Belarus and to revise its decision."