Human Rights Activist Elena Tonkacheva Returned To Belarus

The decision on the human rights defender’s deportation was announced in 2014.

Today, on February 22, human rights activist Elena Tonkacheva returned to Belarus after a three-year "exile" in Lithuania, blogger Yauhen Lipkovich, who accompanied Yelena, reported to kyky.org.

"There was nothing unusual on the border. Severe Belarusian border guards asked for the passport, stamped it and let us go. I immediately started to kiss Lena," – Yauhen says. According to Lipkovich, after crossing the border, Elena was silent and just cried with happiness, returning to her native country.

By the way, there were also journalists on the bus along with Elena and Yauhen, who were making a documentary about the life of the human rights activist.

We remind that the decision on Russian citizen Elena Tonkacheva’s deportation was announced in 2014. The decision was made within a week. The human rights activist struggled to the last for her rights, however she told journalists at the last press conference that she would not "fight" anymore. The decision to deprive Elena of the Belarusian residence permit was made due to the fact that (the official version), Elena had violated the traffic rules several times. The last time was when she exceeded the speed by ten kilometers. The police considered that such behavior "threatens public order". Elena Tonkacheva herself associated her expulsion from the country with human rights activities, which the authorities did not like. Elena spent three years in Lithuania.