Belarusian border guards banned the editor-in-chief of an independent newspaper from leaving the country, fueling talks of a classified blacklist of opposition activists introduced in response to European sanctions.
Andrei Dynko of the Nasha Niva weekly was removed from the train to Vilnius on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border, the newspaper said on its website, adding that the border guards offered no explanation for the ban.
At least five other opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko have been prevented from leaving the country since the start of this month.
All of them put it down to an alleged list of 108 opposition activists banned from leaving the country as punishment for urging the European Union to impose sanctions on Belarus. The EU blacklisted 21 Belarusian officials for entry in February, in addition to 210 banned earlier.
Belarusian authorities, which have cracked down on Lukashenko’s opponents after his victory in disputed presidential elections in 2010, have repeatedly denied the existence of an opposition blacklist.
