Christos Pourgourides not let in Belarus

The PACE deputy Christos Pourgourides was invited to the Belarusian European Forum held on 14 November in Minsk.

During a meeting of the PACE representations with Andrei Bushyla, head of Belarus’ mission at the Council of Europe, the Belarusian side stated that Mr. Pourgourides would be issued visa neither in the Belarusian consulate in Paris, nor in Minsk airport.

In 2004 Christos Pourgourides was the PACE special rapporteur on Belarus dealing with the investigation into the political disappearances. His reports about the missing people and abuses in the Belarusian system of criminal justice got a huge international publicity and increased the public attention to the situation of human rights in Belarus.

At present the Cypriot MP is the first vice-chairperson of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

Bear in mind that a number of influential European politicians received official invitations to the Belarusian European Forum.