MOSCOW () -- An official from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, was barred from attending the trial Thursday of a Belarussian opposition leader in the capital Minsk, Interfax reported.


The judge would not allow the OSCE official, Bjorn Krog Andersen, into the courtroom.


Vasily Novikov, deputy speaker of the Belarussian parliament disbanded last year, was fined 5 million Belarussian rubles ($200) for having helped to organize an unauthorized opposition march in Minsk last month.