Volha Mikalaichyk to be tried for make-up bag of Night Wolves

Film director Volha Mikalaichyk, who was detained near the Russian embassy, has been released until trial.

Activist Katsiaryna Sadouskaya, who was detained together with Volha at 15:00 yesterday, was taken to hospital with a hypertensive crisis, Viasna human rights centre reports.

Belsat's journalists were allowed to go free after the police wrote down their passport information, but the Katsiaryna and Volha were taken to the Tsentralny district police department.

The embassy of Russia confirmed to BelaPAN that the incident had really taken place. “Two women came to the embassy at around 15:00. They talked to security guards. As a result, they left a package near the embassy and went away. The policeman, who saw that they left something, stopped the women in accordance with his duty instructions,” a representative of the Russian diplomatic mission said.

Friends of Mikalaichyk say she found a make-up bag near the tank on the Mound of Glory, which belongs to Russian bikers from the Night Wolves gang, who visited the memorial on April 26 as part of their ride “Victory Roads”. Mikalaichyk talked to her friends and decided to bring the bag to the Russian embassy, so that the staff give it to the bikers. The embassy's security guard took the activist's passport, and her friends' car was blocked in the parking lot.

The topic of make-up bags provoked a wave of jokes after the words of Russian biker Andrei Bobrovsky, who tried to cross the Belarusian-Polish border during the ride to Berlin organised by Putin-backed Night Wolves gang on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. “The search lasted three hours. They didn't allow us to eat and drink and interrogated us in a stuffy room. We were not allowed to take photos and videos. There were a lot of riot police outside. We also noticed helicopters in the sky. The attitude wasn't kind. They carried out a thorough search, searched every sock, every make-up bag and all personal belongings,” the biker said. A make-up bag is a slang term for a motorcycle case.