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Border guards pull human rights defender Sudalenka out of train by arms and legs

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Border guards pull human rights defender Sudalenka out of train by arms and legs

An ambulance was called for him.

On the evening of August 25, Belarusian border guards and customs officers used force at railway station in Maladzechna to make human right defender Leanid Sudalenka get off the train from Vilnius to Minsk. He managed to get to his native city only at 6 a.m. today, Radio Svaboda reports.

“I was returning from the Lithuanian capital to Homel. Customs officer checked me at Hudahai checkpoint. I didn't bring anything banned, so they didn't have claims. Problems began when a border guard scanned my passport. It seems that my name is on a blacklist. The border guard called the shift supervisor. Custom officers returned, but not those who checked me. They warned that I would have to get off the train in Maladzechna.

I had tickets from Minsk to Homel. I feared to get late for the train and asked to explain the reason for the detention. They answered they would conduct a thorough search. I showed them a printout with article 117 of the Customs Code and asked again if they had enough grounds to do the search. Neither customs officers nor border guards gave clear explanations, so I refused to get off the train,” Leanid Sudalenka said.

More than ten border guards and customs officers were waiting for the human rights defender in Maladzechna. He was pulled out of the train by his arms and legs. The process was filmed by border guards. Sudalenka's blood pressure increased, and an ambulance was called.

“I was strip-searched, and they made a list of all my belongings. They were looking for bank cards, but I only had 144 euros and 243,000 Belarusian rubles in my wallet. The search was conducted by inspector Aliaksandr Liabetski and, as I was said, head of the Minsk regional customs department Aliaksandr Bahdzevich,” Leanid Sudalenka says.

The human rights defender was set free two hours later. He was late for the train to Homel and had to buy new tickets to get to Minsk and then to Homel. Customs officers and boarder guards don't help the people who were ordered to get off the train to reach their destination.

This is not the first time when human rights defender Sudalenka has been searched on the border. He filed a lawsuit against the customs office of Ashmiany, which seized his computer in May and hasn't returned it yet.

“The lawsuit against customs officers perhaps added attention to me. I will complain about the actions by customs officers and yesterday's incident. I think somebody is irritated by my human rights activity and systematic work with the UN Human Rights Committee. This is the reason for searches on the border, a criminal case in connection with the distribution pornography allegedly on my behalf and threats to my family on the internet,” Leanid Sudalenka thinks.

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