Prominent Belarusian opposition politician Viktor Ivashkevich was barred from traveling outside the country because of a pending lawsuit over his calls for international sanctions on Belarus, local media reported on Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the employees at the Mozyr Oil Refinery, who are seeking about $61 in damages over Ivashkevich's calls for European companies to boycott Belarusian oil products, Belarusian Channel One television reported.
In mid-March, Ivashkevich urged European governments to introduce an embargo on the purchase and transportation of Belarusian oil products to protest the ongoing political arrests.
Ivashkevich claims that he never received notice about the lawsuit, only learning about it from the television reports. He said he did not know when the lawsuit was filed or when and where it will be considered.
Belarus has barred a number of journalists and opposition figures from leaving the country in recent weeks.
Following the recent execution of two Minsk metro bombers, European Union foreign ministers on March 23 expanded their sanctions on the Belarusian regime.
The EU ministers added 29 firms and 12 individuals to some 230 Belarusians already blacklisted in a bid to put more pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko.
The EU also called on Lukashenko to engage in a dialogue with the opposition.
Lukashenko said on Thursday that he may soon take a decision to pardon certain convicted politicians. “In the near future I will discuss these issues,” the Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying.
The Belarusian leader said that he would only consider cases of those prisoners, who themselves ask him for pardon. “I warned that the issue of pardons for so-called political prisoners is, first of all, their appeal for a pardon. If you don’t want to apply, no one will consider [your case]. Do your time,” the president said.
