Shenderovich's daughter released after incident with police in Minsk
Valentina Chubarova, the 20-year-old Russian national and the daughter of Victor Shenderovich, was detained by the Belarusian police on April 1 in the underground passage in Minsk. Valentina was detained at 9 p.m. together with her friends -- Christina Shytikova, the cousin to the missing ORT journalist Dmitry Zavadsky, and Andrej Kim, an activist with the Belarusian Helsinki Committee -- for allegedly disseminating the stickers that congratulated the Belarusian president with the Fool's Day.
Valentina Chubarova returned to her Moscow home on the next day, April 2. In a telephone interview, she told the European Radio for Belarus, that she had visited Minsk for the first time two and a half years ago. She has often traveled to Belarus since then.
This time, the former activist of the Defense movement came to visit her friend Christina Shatikova. Valentina staged a picket in support of Shatikova in front of the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow on March 25. She said that police officers approached them and demanded to produce IDs, and then ordered the three youth to proceed to a metro's police station.
Valentina Chubarov: “I was not worried about myself. I knew that police had nothing against me. They did not catch me red-handed; they had no legal grounds for my detention. Besides, they would be reluctant to have problems with the Russian embassy. That's why I was more worried about my friends”.
Christina Shatikova: “We were charged with possessing forged documents. A police officer walked around the underground passage and found some stickers portraying Lukashenka and saying: "April 1 is Fool's Day. Congratulations, Mr Lukashenka!" The police told us that we were degrading the honor of the president”.
During the search, police found several similar stickers on Andrej Kim.
When the youth demanded a lawyer, police officers told them that all the state-paid laweyers had already been asleep.
Although Shenderovich's daughter had a valid train ticket to Moscow and the train was to take off within several hours, the detainees were taken to a district police station. Different fom lawyers, nobody was asleep there. But, the Russian national was released only after a telephone call from Vladimir Lukin, the Russian President's Special Representative on Human Rights.
Valentina Chubarova: “Unfortunately, similar incidents happen in Moscow, too. But, police there do not act in a tough way. I have a feeling that police are self-assured because they have a relevant order from the top. They are tightening the screws. It means the authorities are scared and feel insecure”.
According to Christina Shatikova, it was not accidental for the police to approach their company.
Christina Shatikova: “A certain patriotic young man allegedly came to the police and reported that he saw us glueing the stickers. As it turned out later he was a commander of a military unit. He was walking with his girlfriend and eventually decided to protect the honor and dignity of the president”.
Despite the incident, Valentina Chubarova told our radio she was not going to refuse from further visits to Minsk.
Valentina Chubarova returned to her Moscow home on the next day, April 2. In a telephone interview, she told the European Radio for Belarus, that she had visited Minsk for the first time two and a half years ago. She has often traveled to Belarus since then.
This time, the former activist of the Defense movement came to visit her friend Christina Shatikova. Valentina staged a picket in support of Shatikova in front of the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow on March 25. She said that police officers approached them and demanded to produce IDs, and then ordered the three youth to proceed to a metro's police station.
Valentina Chubarov: “I was not worried about myself. I knew that police had nothing against me. They did not catch me red-handed; they had no legal grounds for my detention. Besides, they would be reluctant to have problems with the Russian embassy. That's why I was more worried about my friends”.
Christina Shatikova: “We were charged with possessing forged documents. A police officer walked around the underground passage and found some stickers portraying Lukashenka and saying: "April 1 is Fool's Day. Congratulations, Mr Lukashenka!" The police told us that we were degrading the honor of the president”.
During the search, police found several similar stickers on Andrej Kim.
When the youth demanded a lawyer, police officers told them that all the state-paid laweyers had already been asleep.
Although Shenderovich's daughter had a valid train ticket to Moscow and the train was to take off within several hours, the detainees were taken to a district police station. Different fom lawyers, nobody was asleep there. But, the Russian national was released only after a telephone call from Vladimir Lukin, the Russian President's Special Representative on Human Rights.
Valentina Chubarova: “Unfortunately, similar incidents happen in Moscow, too. But, police there do not act in a tough way. I have a feeling that police are self-assured because they have a relevant order from the top. They are tightening the screws. It means the authorities are scared and feel insecure”.
According to Christina Shatikova, it was not accidental for the police to approach their company.
Christina Shatikova: “A certain patriotic young man allegedly came to the police and reported that he saw us glueing the stickers. As it turned out later he was a commander of a military unit. He was walking with his girlfriend and eventually decided to protect the honor and dignity of the president”.
Despite the incident, Valentina Chubarova told our radio she was not going to refuse from further visits to Minsk.
