26 Oct 11 | Campaigns, Europe and Central Asia
Two more foreign banks halt cooperation with Belarus after German Chancellor Angela Merkel tells Index on Censorship and Free Belarus Now that she would intervene to stop Deutsche Bank from selling government bonds to Europe’s last dictatorship. 
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30 Sep 11 | Uncategorized
The German chancellor and UK Deputy Prime Minister pledged more action on Belarus’s human rights abuses at a Warsaw summit
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29 Sep 11 | Uncategorized
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will take to the airwaves in Belarus this afternoon, the home of Europe’s last dictatorship.
In an address to the people of Belarus, Clegg will vow to stand up to the tyranny on our doorstep. In an article for the Independent today, he commented:
“Belarus is trapped in the past: Europe’s shameful secret, right on our doorstep. So I’m determined we speak out and up the pressure on the regime. When popular uprisings exploded across North Africa and the Middle East, the UK took a stand and took it quickly. We will show the same leadership for Belarus.”
He described Belarus:
“Imagine a country where torture and intimidation are reportedly common place. Where peaceful protesters are locked up –– sent to maximum security prison colonies— and free-thinking journalists are harassed. Where a president can rig election-after-election, despite running the economy into the ground. Where most people are too scared to speak out and the death penalty remains.
After his speech in Warsaw, in which he is expected to praise the work of the Free Belarus Now campaign (supported by Index on Censorship) the Liberal Democrat leader will take part in an interview with European Radio for Belarus.
28 Sep 11 | Index Index, minipost
A journalist who was found guilty of defamation in Belarus has been barred from leaving the country. Andrzej Poczobut, a Polish-Belarusian journalist who writes for top daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, was found guilty of defaming President Alexander Lukashenko in July, and was given a three-year suspended sentence. Poczobut claims he was recently summoned to a police station in Homel, where he was instructed that as a convict he has no right to travel abroad. Poczobut wrote in his blog regarding the travel ban: “That is not mentioned either in my verdict or in the Criminal Code.”
