Belarusian Ambassador called to the German MFA

Andrei Giro was called to the MFA of Germany because of the refusal to issue Belarusian visas for two electoral observers.

“The MFA’s authorized representative for Eastern Europe Antje Leendertse made it clear to him, that the federal government can’t understand why  in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Belarus two observers were denied visas, including a Bundestag member, as well as journalists”, - says the statement by the German foreign ministry.

The German MFA notes that freedom of speech limitations and denial of an entry right, as well as limitations put on the civil society  right before the elections are “a negative signal and a restraint for civil society development in Belarus”, - BelaPAN states.

We would remind you that the Belarusian authorities refused to issue visas for the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly observers Emanuelis Zingeris (Lithuania) and Mary Louise Beck (Germany), who planned to come together with the short-term Assembly mission to observe the parliamentary elections.

The Belarusian MFA, in its turn, asserts that the denial was not connected to the elections observation. “These two persons are the foreigners, whose entry to the territory of Belarus is seen as undesirable”, - said the press-secretary of MFA Andrei Savinykh. “We are committed to  constructive cooperation with the OSCE mission”, - he emphasized.  

Emanuelis Zingeris and Mary Louise Beck are known for their uncompromising position as to the official Minsk. They repeatedly claimed for introducing more strict EU sanctions to the Belarusian authorities, supported the opposition and demanded for the human rights to be respected in Belarus.

The short-term mission of the OSCE PA will arrive to Belarus on September 20-21. The mission coordinator Matteo Mecacci has already arrived to Minsk on September 19th in the evening.