ASSOCIATED PRESS -- Dec 14 -- Belarusian lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation that would crack down on Internet dating and online spouse searches in the latest of a series of stringent government controls backed by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. The measure passed 101-1 by the subservient lower house of parliament and is intended to help halt human trafficking in the ex-Soviet nation. The legislation would place restrictions on organizations that promote dating or match potential suitors with spouses, particularly via the Internet. Lukashenko has made his nation of 10 million people a pariah in the West by stifling dissent, persecuting independent media and opposition parties and prolonging his power through elections that international organizations say were marred by fraud.
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