German Embassy denies Schengen visas to human rights activists

On 14 October the Embassy of Germany suddenly and without any explanations refused to issue Schengen visas to well-known Belarusian human rights activists and journalists Uladzimir Labkovich, Alena Laptsionak and Siarhei Sys.

Belarusian human rights activists hope that this is not a tendency and the situation will be urgently corrected by officers of the German Embassy. As long as the tendency of development of relations of European state institutions (including German ones) with the Belarusian authorities is bi-lateral, such actions of the German Embassy of Belarus do not favor the development of the civil society in Belarus and do not correspond to the statements of the leaders of the EU countries about fostering and approval of the activities of human rights activists in Belarus.