Polish Politician Not Let In To Russia For Ties With Belarusian Opposition? :: Charter'97 :: News

As the Polish Warsaw-based daily «Zycie Warszawy» informed, the representative of the governmental delegation of Poland, deputy chair of the political party Unia Pracy Katarzyna Matuszewska was detained in Moscow. According to the «Zycie Warszawy» and Polish radio, it happened because of Matuszewska’s contacts with the Belarusian opposition.

Matuszewska was detained in midnight, right after the plane with Polish governmental delegation landed. The delegation was headed by Marek Pola, chairman of the Unia Pracy (UP).

Matuszewska was released only at 2 p.m. next day. As she said, she felt very humiliated. Nobody informed her about the reason of her detention in a small room, where there was only bed. She was given nothing to drink or to eat.

Only after Polish Embassy’s intervention Russian authorities were persuaded to let Katarzyna Matuszewska to the territory of Russia.

According to the press secretary of Polish FM, it was a misunderstanding, while officials of the Polish Embassy in Moscow pay attention to the fact that the name of the deputy chair of the UP is similar to the name of a person who is denied admission to the territory of Russia.

Katarzyna Matuszewska has never had problems with the law, but once she was denied entry to the territory of Belarus for her cooperation with Belarusian opposition. It happened last July, press secretary of the UP Bartholomeusz Marzycki said. It means that her name is already in the list of people to whom the entry had been denied.