Russian Embassy has sent protest note to Belarusian Foreign Ministry
6- 15.07.2008, 8:40
The Embassy of Russia to Belarus has sent the Belarusian side a protest note on changing the measure of restraint for the Russian national Vladimir Belunin detained in Minsk.
It has been stated to the agency “Interfax-Zapad” by the Embassy’s press attaché in Belarus Vadim Gusev.
“The Embassy has sent the second note to the Belarusian side to change the measure of judicial restraint,” he said. V. Gusev has also stated that on July 15 Belarusian authorities allowed a meeting of the Russian consul with the detained. “Yesterday parents of Vladimir Belunin visited the Embassy. They were received by Chargé d'affaires pro tempore Igor Gurko,” the press attaché added.
According to the reports received by the Embassy, Belunin, Vladimir Sergeyevich, was detained under Article 108 of the Belarusian Criminal Procedural Code (arrest on direct suspicion of committing a crime).
However, he hasn’t connected the detention of the Russian citizen with other detention after the blast in Minsk on July 4.
The law-enforcing agencies of Belarus decline comment on this occasion, refusing to confirm or refute reports about V. Belunin’s detention.
Belunin is a 21-year-old student at university in Minsk, according to local Internet media outlets. His parents claim he is gravely ill, as he was diagnosed with anorexia and cannot eat properly. Interfax has not been able to confirm this diagnose.
As Tatsyana Belunina, mother of the detained, told to “Vzglyad” newspaper, her son was taken in custody several times: at first on 4 July, after his exam, their apartment was searched and computer system unit and her son’s cell phone were seized. For the second Vladimir Belunin got to militia on 9 July, he is still there.
Tamara Belunina said they had come from Karachay-Cherkessia, where they had lived most of their lives. “We came to the stable Belarus, where I was born, where my children were born,” she said.
An explosion occurred in central Minsk in the early hours of July 4 during a concert on the occasion of Belarus' Independence Day. The concert was attended by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. While the president was not hurt, around 50 people suffered various wounds and injuries.
