Police start putting down passport data of visitors of foreign Embassies
The Belarusian police started putting
down the passport information of the persons who visit the Embassies
of the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland and the Federal Republic of Germany. This
information was passed to "Charter'97" by the leader of the
United Civil Party Anatol Liabedzka.
"Such practice is
applied towards the Embassies of the US, UK and Germany. "The
police put down the passport data of each visitor", said the
politician. "Of course, this is explained by additional security
measures, and the collected information is then passed to KGB."
The
actions of the Belarusian authorities violate the Vienna Convention
on Diplomatic Relations, one of the fundamental agreements on
diplomatic legislation.
"This violates not only
diplomatic conventions, but also the civil rights of Belarusians.
Everything is done like it used to be during the Soviet times: any
person coming to foreign embassies must be registered by the
authorities. It is a usual practice under totalitarian rule,"
commented to charter97.org the deputy head of the Polish foundation
"Freedom and Democracy", former first secretary of the
Embassy of Poland in Minsk Marek Bucko.
