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Belarusian opposition leader barred from traveling for medical treatment

November 09, 2011

Uladzimer Nyaklyaeu

MINSK – Former Belarusian presidential candidate Uladzimer Nyaklyaeu has been barred from traveling abroad to receive medical treatment, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.

The parole inspection board in Minsk's Lenin district today rejected Nyaklyaeu's request to allow him to go to "a Western country" for medical treatment.

The official explanation of the refusal said that "there are well-trained medical experts in Belarus who are capable of providing professional treatment."

Nyaklyaeu told RFE/RL that he will travel anyway, because "I consider myself a free man and have never recognized the court's verdict against me."

Nyaklyaeu was given a two-year suspended sentence on May 20 for his role in a protest in Minsk on December 19 by some 15,000 people following the announcement of incumbent President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's reelection.

Nyaklyaeu was severely beaten at the demonstration and hospitalized with a concussion and other injuries before being arrested. He was placed under house arrest until his trial started in May.

In September, a Minsk court barred Nyaklyaeu from leaving the city without written permission and from traveling outside Belarus for the duration of his two-year suspended sentence.

It also barred him from attending public gatherings and meetings, ordered him to present himself at a police station once a week, and told him to stay home between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Link to original story on RFE/RL website

Topics: Freedom of movement, Opposition,