Russian tourist: KGB officers interrogated me using polygraph, and then imprisoned

A Russian geographer who had been making pictures of a building in Loeu, was first interrogated with the use of polygraph, and then imprisoned for 10 days for “use of bad language”.

The Russian tourist, who was sentenced to 10 days in prison after he was filming buildings in the town of Loeu (Love) in Homel region, and which allegedly was a formal reason for the ban on administrative buildings filming all over Belarus, shared information about the details of his tribulations with Nasha Niva newspaper.

In February a research scientist of Institute of Geology at the Russian Academy of Sciences, a candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences Alexei Kolesnichenko (in picture) went on a journey to the countries of the former Soviet Union.

“I have visited Belarus many times before. This time I arrived from the north, through Polatsk I went to Minsk, and then headed to Hrodna, Svislach, Baranavichy, Lyakhavichy, Babrujsk and Homel. I went to Kyiv for 2 days and then returned to Homel,” he said.

On February 23 Alexei arrived from Kyiv to Belarus. He was detained on the same day.

“I arrived to Homel from Kyiv at 4 a.m. on a train. I took a walk around the city centre for an hour and a half, I was sitting in a café until it was closed at 6 a.m., ate two out of the five sandwiches I had been given by my friend in Kyiv the day before, and continued my journey. The next large city on my way was Loeu, which is situated 100 kilometres away from Homel. Then I planned to go to Brahin, which was previously a part of the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power station, however my fate was different,” Alexei narrated.

He was making pictures of “everything” in Loeu. It happened so that he made a picture of the police department (of the Interior Affairs department) of Loeu as well.

“It was 9 a.m. in Loeu when two policemen came up to me and asked to show my passport. I produced my Russian passport, and after that I was offered to go to the Internal Affairs department with them. I went there, and I was checked in a database, and they were ready to release me, but as sudden as a meteoric impact in Chelyabinsk, a necessity to talk to the chief of Loeu police department arose.

I had to wait for him for 3.5 hours. After he arrived, I was taken to his office in the first floor, and our conversation began.

“What was the purpose of your visit, for how many days are you staying in Belarus, what was the purpose of your visit to Ukraine, which cities have you visited,” – that’s just 2% of all the questions I had been asked in 40 minutes I spent in his office,” Kolesnichenko describes his arrest.

In addition to the pictures of Loeu police department, there were pictures of railway stations, airports, planes found at his snapshot camera (which is not a surprise, as Alexei is interested in aviation, he is a volunteer in the Aviation Museum in Monino, and takes part in restoration of a Soviet Tu-144 jetliner).

Then representatives of a local KGB branch decided to have a conversation with Alexei. Unlike the policemen, Alexei says, they asked questions professionally. They talked to him several times, and even used a polygraph once. Kolesnichenko says that they hadn’t found out anything significant and returned him back to policemen. A report for use of foul speech in a public place was drawn up against him, and as a result, Alexei was sentenced to 10 days in prison under Article 17.1 of the Administrative Code of Belarus. he was released on March 5.

Alexei says that he had never experienced anything of the kind.

As said by him, he wanted to file a complaint, however, he was not sure it is worthwhile:

“In the remand prison my cell-mates recommended to write an application to the office of the Prosecutor General of Russia, however, firstly, I do not have a copy of the court’s verdict, and secondly, if the case would be opened, a trial would be held in Homel, and I would have to go there, and who knows what would happen to me. They can charge me with something else. I am not going to visit Belarus in the near future.”

As a result of Kolesnichenko’s detention, not only he but all Belarusians have been hit. After a citizen of Russia made a picture of a police department in Loeu on February 23, on Februar 25 deputy Minister of the Interior Melchenko signed an enactment which obliges to be attentive to persons who make pictures of administrative buildings.

The first victim was a photo reporter of Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belarusi, Dzmitry Lasko. He was detained for 4 hours for taking pictures of the new lighting of the Presidium of the Academy of Science in Independence Avenue in Minsk. And on March 7 a group of bloggers from Minsk was detained in Iuye for making pictures of public buildings.

The press-service of the Interior Affairs Department in its comments to BelTA explained that law-enforcers had a right to know the purpose: why pictures of the administrative buildings had been made, but a ban on photography is our of the question.