Paval Sharamet deprived of Belarusian citizenship

According to preliminary information, the decision to deprive of citizenship the well-known journalist had been adopted by the Security Council of Belarus.

The Belarusian Embassy in Moscow informed him by a by registered letter that Paval Sharamet had been stripped of Belarusian citizenship. As "Belarusian partisan" was told by Paval Sharamet, the letter was signed not by the ambassador, but by one of the secretaries of the Embassy. It was not said there who exactly adopted the decision to deprive him of citizenship, the INterior Affairs Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry or Lukashenka's administration. As the reason for depriving him citizenship was Sharamet's receiving the Russian citizenship.

The letter aslo informed that Sharamet could come and return the Belarusian passport to the Embassy, to be given a document about being deprived of the citizenship and pay a duty of 7 Euro for that.

"I tried to find out what agency had passed the decision about revoking my citizenship, but no one had officially told me that. The citizenship is given by the president of the country, and he deprives of citizenship in case a person applies to him voluntarily. I hadn't sent such letters to anyone, and hadn't renounced my Belarusian citizenship. The Belarusian authorities knew 10 year ago that I have a Russian citizenship. They were officially informed about that, but they reacted to that cooly. It is known that Belarusian authorities persuade people not to renounce the Belarusian citizenship in case they emigrate to another country. The desire to take away my Belarusian passport is a manifestation of aggravation of the Belarusian special services' hysteria. They do not know how to pinprick us and what soft spot to use," Paval Sharamet said.

In 2002 Belarus passed amendments to the legislation on citizenship, which allow citizens to have second citizenship in case they live in a different country but do not want to break ties with their motherland.

As "Belarusian partisan" had found out from high-ranking sources in the Interior Ministry, the decision to deprive Sharamet of his citizenship was adopted not by mirgatopn service and not by the leadership of the Interior Minisrty. The decision was approved by the Security Council.

"Undoubtedly, it is revenge for my professional activities. It is a mean and disgusting revenge. I am not going to appeal against it right now, as it is senseless," Paval Sharamet said.