Russian physicist Ozharovsky deported from Belarus
Andrei Ozharovsky is banned from entering Belarus for 10 years.
The deportation note was signed by the acting head of the Maskouski district police department. According to the note, the center for isolation of criminals of the Maskouski district was to consider the deportation at about 8 a.m., and Ozharovsky could come to the meeting. Nevertheless, Ozharovsky wasn’t present when the deportation was decided upon, since by this time he had already been on a train on his way to Russian Smalensk.
The Maskouski district police department decided upon the deportation without a court procedure, basing its decision on the fact that Ozharovsky had been charged with minor hooliganism. However, according to the law, the administrative arrest couldn’t be applied because an appeal was launched within five days after the sentence had been passed. The Minsk municipal court will consider the appeal on Monday.
According to Ozharovsky, all these events are a mere provocation that the powers use against him personally and against the entire anti-nuclear movement in Belarus. He said:
- Lies and provocations are the only arguments that the supporters of the nuclear power station construction in Belarus have left! They are afraid of an open debate, they try to intimidate and repress their opponents. They avoid any material discussion, they cannot respond to our criticism. And all this proves they are wrong!
Ozharovsky is convinced that this is not the first time when the Belarusian powers intimidate and repress those who struggle against the dangerous construction of the Belarusian nuclear power station. Director of the landscape reserve Igar Pastukhou has been fired; Mikalay Ulasievich who lives in the village of Varniany close to Astravets has been repeatedly sued and his house has been searched; scientist Grygory Liepin has recently been detained.
- In my case, the powers’ actions are even more absurd. Just imagine that a citizen of the Russian Federation is detained by spetsnaz, arrested on fake charges and then deported – for trying to visit his country’s embassy!
We remind that this is Andrei Ozharovsky’s second arrest in Belarus. Both arrests are connected to his criticism of the Belarusian nuclear powers station project. Ozharovsky is one of the authors of a critical report on environmental impacts of the construction. He was arrested for the first time when he tried to join the public hearings of the report in Astravets.
