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.