Border Guards Sounded Alarm Because Of Books By Zianon Pazniak

The incident occurred at the Novaya Huta border checkpoint.

On the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, Belarusian customs officers seized activist Viktar Kulak’s book by Zianon Pazniak under the title "Hard Time" (Part 2), Radio Svaboda informs.

It happened on September 23 at the Novaya Huta border checkpoint, where Viktar Kulak came by car after a trip to Chernihiv. The activist told Radio Svaboda the circumstances of the capture of the book.

During the vehicle inspection, a customs officer got interested in the book, he flipped it through and went away, and then as many as 6 customs officers and border guards came.

"They took the book away and started to draw up various documents regarding it. As a result, I was given 3 papers, including a certificate of examination of the book and a report on seizure of the book and its sending to the examination to recognize it extremist literature. The documents were signed by customs inspector Aliaksei Pakrepa. I was told that the examination would take 20 days," – Viktar Kulak said.

The book by Zianon Pazniak, "Hard Time," had been presented to Kulak by an acquaintance from Ukraine.

The confiscated book is a collection of Zianon Pazniak’s articles concerning domestic politics and the Russian-Belarusian relations in 1996 – 2002.