By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MINSK, Belarus – A prominent Belarusian journalist and critic of the national government was stripped of his citizenship earlier this week.
Pavel Sheremet was informed by officials from the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow, where he is currently living, that his citizenship had been revoked.
The Belarusian government pointed to 2002 legislation which attached new requirements regarding Belarusian citizens who reside in other countries. Those citizens face a possible revoking of their citizenship if they join a military, law enforcement or intelligence unit of that foreign nation. The final order to take action against Sheremet was made by national Belarusian Security Council.
In response to the notification regarding his citizenship, Sheremet declared that he had done nothing to violate the 2002 legislation. Since living in Moscow, he stated that he had not joined a Russian government agency of any kind. He also questioned why, after he had been openly living in Russia for over a decade, the Belarus government decided now to take this action.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international non-governmental organization that attempts to protect the rights of journalists, was quick to criticize the actions of the Belarusian government and call for the re-establishing of Sheremet’s citizenship.
“Sheremet has long been critical of the regime of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and has been jailed, attacked, and harassed for his work in the past. This latest official move appears as yet another act of official retaliation. It must be stopped at once.”
Sheremet noted that “the desire to take away my Belarusian passport [was] a manifestation of aggravation of the Belarusian special services’ hysteria.” He went to conclude that the action of Belarus was “revenge for [his] professional activities.”
Sheremet has been detained and jailed a number of times by both Belarusian and Russian authorities. During the 2006 Belarusian Presidential election, Sheremet was jailed while covering protests that arose in its aftermath. In 2004 Sheremet was attacked in Minsk and subsequently charged with disturbing the peace following his publishing of a biography critical of the Lukashenko government.
For more information, please see:
CHARTER 97 – Committee to Protect Journalists has called upon returning citizenship to Sharamet – 31 March 2010
CHARTER 97 – Paval Sharamet deprived of Belarusian citizenship – 31 March 2010
RADIO FREE EUROPE – Belarusian Journalist ‘Loses Citizenship’ – 31 March 2010
CPJ – More than two dozen journalists jailed in Belarus – 28 March 2006
