[JURIST] Belarus [JURIST news archive] plans to appeal decisions by the European Union and the United States to ban Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko [official website; BBC profile] and other top government officials from entering their jurisdictions, according to a Lukashenko spokesman. Lukashenko on Tuesday instructed his government to prepare appeals against the decisions to be taken to international courts. Belarus Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] press secretary Andrei Popov stated that the travel bans "violate the principles of the Helsinki Accords [text] related to freedom of travel."

The US issued a travel ban [JURIST report] on Lukashenko and associates last week, while the EU issued a travel ban [JURIST report] shortly after the March presidential election [BBC report] in Belarus. Western nations have criticized the March election, which saw Lukashenko returned to a third term in office with over 80% of the popular vote, as crippled with fraud [JURIST report]. RIA Novosti has more.