Activists campaigning for abolition of death penalty in Belarus detained on Lithuanian border
On 5 October the activists of the campaign Human Rights Defenders against Death Penalty Palina Stsepanenka and Iryna Toustsik were detained at the border point Kamenny Loh. The Belarusian customs officer set them down from the bus Vilnius-Minsk by which they were returning home from Vilnius.
The booklets and stickers Say NO to Death Penalty were prepared for the World Day against Death Penalty, 10 October. The report about the seizure of the printed production was composed by the senior inspector of the Ashmiany customs office Aliaksandr Shumski.
‘The customs officers said that the booklets and stickers will be passed to the Ashmiany police that will conduct and expertise. They also said that we can get back the printed production after the end of the expertise,’ told the human rights defender Iryna Toustsik.
Meanwhile, I.Toustsik states that the customs officers which whom they had a talk, showed the awareness of the problem of the death penalty and showed a favorable attitude to the information that was presented in the booklets. They even said they were also against the death penalty, said Iryna.
P. Stsepanenka and I.Toustsik were kept on the border since 3.30 till 6 p.m. They missed their bus and had to hitchhike to Minsk. The activist expressed the hope they will manage to get back the confiscated production, as it was promised by teh customs officers.
