Valiantsin Stefanovich still receives runarounds concerning unlawful foreign travel restrictions

The date of the consideration of the appeal of the human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovich against the unlawful foreign travel restrictions still hasn't been appointed, though the legal term for the consideration of the appeal ended on 26 April. The chancellery of the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk doesn't give any distinct answers. Moreover, the same happened to the analogical appeals of the Chairman of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Aleh Hulak and the head of the United Civil Party Anatol Liabezka. All these appeals were to have been considered by Judge Alena Semak.

Stefanovich's appeals to the General Procuracy and the Partyzanski District Police Department of Minsk were forwarded to the Ministry of Defense, as far as according to the Citizenship and Migration Department of the The Partyzanski District of Minsk, the foreign travel restrictions were applied to Mr. Stefanovich for alleged evasion from measures connected to the call-up to army service.

However, Mr. Stefanovich served in the army in 1990-1992, and he is 12 years older than the upper limit of the call-up age.

This vicious circle of lawlessness is evidently staged by the Belarusian KGB: the amendments to the Law "On state security organs" which legalize such actions enter into legal force in May. As a result, all disloyal human rights defenders and journalists can be banned to leave Belarus by being put on the prophylactic register of the KGB.