Wider EU sanctions on Belarus urged

Sanctions against Belarus should be broadened, the European Parliament said in a resolution Thursday in response to what it described as violations of media freedom in that former Soviet state.
 
The Belarus Foreign Ministry rejected the allegations, saying the authorities were upholding stability at a time when governments should be concentrating on the fight against terror.
 
In a nonbinding resolution, Parliament condemned what it called "indiscriminate attacks" on media freedom under the government of President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994.
 
These have included "arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment of detainees, disappearances and politically motivated persecution," Parliament said.
 
The resolution urged the executive European Commission and European Union member governments to create a support program for independent journalists. It also envisioned a possible ban on visas for Belarus officials implicated in abridging press freedoms.
 
The EU imposed limited sanctions on Belarus last year after alleging that Lukashenko's administration had staged fraudulent elections. It froze high-level links and increased to six from four the number of Belarus officials banned from EU territory.