Swedish ice hockey national team calls upon boycotting Lukashenka

The head of the Swedish ice hockey federation and sportsmen are called upon ignoring the Belarusian dictator during the World Championship in Minsk.

Charter97.org website has been informed about that by the leader of Swedish human rights organisation Östgruppen, Martin Uggla.

“I have published an article in one of newspapers. There I demanded Swedish ice hockey delegation not to participate in propaganda events during the Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk. That is, I appealed to deny participation in meetings and photo sessions with Lukashenka and other representatives of the authorities, not to be interviewed by state-run media and so on. We have also organized a seminar with participation of the head of Swedish Ice Hockey Federation on this issue,” the human rights activist noted.

We remind that the right to hold the World championship was received by Lukashenka back in 2009. It is planned to be held in Minsk-Arena and Chyzhouka-Arena in Minsk on May 9-25 this year.

Human rights activists and international organisations opposed holding this event in Belarus because of human rights violations by the regime and political prisoners in the country. The idea to move the event to a different country had been supported by many European and US politicians. Some countries have already threatened to boycott the championship in case it is held in Minsk because of the crackdown carried out by the Belarusian authorities.