March 16, employees of Minsk police detained a Russian citizen, Andrei Yurov, who was the head of the International Committee of the International Observation Mission to monitor the situation of human rights in Belarus. They plan to deport him from Belarus, as he's allegedly been "included in the lists of banned" since March 4.
Head of Monitoring Mission was detained in an apartment, rented by the mission members, by the staff of the department of Citizenship and Migration Board after examination of the documents and taken to the police department of the Soviet District of Minsk, reports the «Belarusian Partisan.»
«They plan to deport me. As it turned out, I am under visa ban to Belarus. Police department employees are fairly polite, but they can’t explain to me who, when and on what basis drew this list. I’m visa banned — and that’s it,» said he detainee.
According to Andrei Yurov, the police said that he had «illegally entered the territory» of the Union State. In this regard, the police took the explanation from the detainee and are going to institute criminal investigation.
Long-term mission of the Committee of international control over the human rights situation in Belarus was established on December 27, 2010 in connection with the situation in Belarus in the aftermath of the presidential election. It included representatives of human rights organizations, the OSCE, monitoring the observance of human rights by the Belarusian authorities and radical community groups.
