Homel military prosecutor replies on foreign travel black list

Uladzimir Siakerka, Chairman of Homel regional office of the United Left Party "Fair World", received a reply to his appeal to local military prosecutor. The politician urged the prosecutor to explain who, when, and why added him to a black list, which resulted in certain problems while crossing the border. Earlier, the regional leader was taken off the train while returning from Ukraine. The border explained that Uladzimir Siakerka "is on the list of requests by law enforcement agencies." Later, the court sentenced the opposition leader to a fine for failure to comply with the orders of the border guards.

Subsequent appeals sent to various governmental bodies, demanding explanations on the fact of harassment, were not successful. In particular, commander of military unit No. 1242 Ihar Maroz said that "the answer to your questions is not available, since military unit No. 1242 possesses no information on you being present in any databases."

Acting military prosecutor of Homel Siarhei Charednik said in response to the politician’s request that the actions of the border troops did not go beyond their authority. Commenting on the existence of a blacklist he said, "Other questions contained in your request cannot be answered, as this information is limited to reporting and dissemination under Article 17 of the Law "On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information."

Uladzimir Siakerka intends to bring the matter to court to find out why he is in some kind of a blacklist, and how a citizen may be excluded from the list.