A citizen of Belarus Dmitry Podlobnikov was extradited from Russia to his homeland, despite the ban of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In Belarus, he is accused of gross violation of order and causing moral harm to a police officer. The message about this on Monday, January 10, was published by the Belarusian human rights center “Viasna”.
Detainee’s whereabouts vary
According to information from human rights activists, the young man was placed in SIZO-3 in Gomel. Meanwhile, as the lawyer of the Civic Assistance Committee Maria Krasova noted in an interview with Novaya Gazeta, she did not receive any official information about the fact that her client was in Belarus. According to the head of the legal programs of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Roman Kiselev, Podlobnikov’s relatives did not receive any notification of his extradition either.
On Sunday, Maria Krasova visited the Moscow SIZO-4, where Podlobnikov was held in custody after being detained in Russia. As the defender told reporters, the employees of the penitentiary institution “without hesitation” indicated the number of the cell in which the young man was allegedly located.
At the same time, according to Krasova, when human rights activists called SIZO-4 on January 4, they were told that Podlobnikov had left on December 31. But at the same time, the lawyer said, e-mails reached him, which suggests that he is still there. Podlobnikov’s mother also received notifications that her son had received censored letters sent to him. She received them on January 4 and 8. At the same time, Maria Krasova indicated that the term of detention expired at Podlobnikov’s on January 5.
What is Podlobnikov accused of
As Maria Krasova told reporters, the moral harm to the policeman on the part of Dmitry Podlobnikov was that Podlobnikov hit the helmet with his palm. According to her, the case contains records of telephone conversations of acquaintances, where it is said that the security forces beat the protesters, “but at the same time suffered moral suffering.”
In August 2020, Podlobnikov attended protests in Zhlobin. On August 9 he was detained, but released three days later. Later he went to work in Russia. Almost a year later, the young man was detained in the Russian Federation at the request of Minsk.
The decision to ban the extradition of Dmitry Podlobnikov from Russia to Belarus until January 31, 2022, was issued by the ECHR on December 31, 2021. Earlier, on three occasions, he prohibited Russia from deporting Belarusian citizens to their homeland. We are talking about the participants in the 2020 protests Vadim Duboisky, Andrei Kazimirov and Alexei Kudin. As a result, the expulsion of Duboisky and Kazimirov was suspended. And with regard to the world famous Belarusian athlete Kudin, the position of the ECHR did not affect the decision of the Russian court of appeal: he was extradited to Minsk.
See also:
.