Swedish human rights defender Martin Uggla was denied the Belarusian visa
The Belarusian Embassy in Stockholm has once again denied visa to
Martin Uggla, Chairperson of the Swedish
human rights organization Östgruppen.
’Of course, they want to punish me for criticizing the human rights violations
that are regularly allowed by the Belarusian authorities,’ believes Martin
Uggla.
Belarus
is one of the priorities in the activity of Östgruppen.
The organization has good contacts with the Belarusian democratic movement and
has been cooperating with the Belarusian human rights organizations for many
years already.
It is already the fourth denial of visa for Martin Uggla, he visited Belarus
for the last time in June 2006.
’The decision of the embassy clearly shows that all statements of the Belarusian
authorities about liberalization and democratization are void. It also shows
that the authorities fear a public criticism from the abroad,’ says Mr. Uggla. ‘However,
I am not going to keep silent. One needs to report about human rights
violations and condemn them without any compromises. Not doing it is a betrayal
of the people who suffer from repressions in Belarus.’
