Belarusian activists detained on Russian border

On August 23, the Russian border guards detained several representatives of Belarusian pro-democracy movements and parties, who were going to the Katyn to mark the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Stalinism, which is celebrated on August 23.

According to the press service of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, two persons were detained and taken for identification to the border town of Rudnia, among them – Volha Zavadskaya, mother of journalist Dzmitry Zavadski, who disappeared in 2000. Yauhen Batura, member of the BCD, was forced to remove a T-shirt saying “Stop Putin”.

Border officials copied their passport details, but did not release the bus until the arrival of boss. A number of men in civilian clothes, who were present during the detention, refused to give their names.

As a result, the bus was released from the border point 20 minutes before the closing of the memorial complex. Despite the late hour, the bus went on a planned route. It was accompanied by a Russian road police car.

The Belarusian activists visited Katyn, where they were constantly filmed, and returned to the Belarusian-Russian border. They were not allowed to go to Rudnia in order to pick up the detained activists. The two detainees were released at about 10 p.m.