Hostages of Euromaidan: 47 passengers of the Gomel-Chernihiv bus were “captive” by the SBU and border guards for over a day

Citizens of Belarus and Ukraine – passengers of the Gomel-Chernihiv regular bus, including women and the elderly, spent 28 hours in a cold bus, without food and access to the toilet, on the territory of the Ukrainian border checkpoint “Novi Yarylovichi” in the Chernihiv region. The reason is that a “package with a narcotic substance” was allegedly found under the seat of a Belarusian activist of the youth organization “Alternative” Dmitry Sylchenko. A group of 7 Belarusian public activists were on this bus heading to Kyiv to participate in Sunday’s “March of Millions”.

The adventures of the Belarusians began on the evening of Friday, December 6, when they left Minsk on a chartered bus to visit Kyiv and support the participants of the Ukrainian Euromaidan. However, at about 9 p.m., the bus was stopped on the highway by officers of the Belarusian KGB, transport police, and traffic police. The bus was arrested and the activists continued their journey on foot across the snowy field, and later hitchhiked to Gomel.

Having boarded the Gomel-Chernihiv regular bus, the Belarusians’ troubles continued with the crossing of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border at about 11 a.m. on December 7. Although, when boarding the regular bus in Gomel, Belarusian police officers copied the data of all the trip participants.

According to one of the passengers, an activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Maksym Vinyarsky, to begin with, Ukrainian border guards separated all citizens of Belarus from citizens of Ukraine and collected detailed personal data (full name, date of birth and place of permanent registration) on video, asked about the purpose of the visit, the expected duration of stay in the country and other intentions. After that, a receipt-obligation was taken from each of the citizens (according to the sample that was provided) addressed to the head of the Chernihiv border detachment Ptitsa O.G. (with all passport data), in which the bus passengers gave an obligation to comply with (not violate) the laws of Ukraine, and also not to participate in mass protests (!). And although these obligations do not have any legal force, the very fact of their seizure may indicate a planned provocation, illegal collection of personal data, biased attitude towards these citizens and a violation of their rights to express their own opinion and political position.

After that, the passengers took their seats on the bus and began to wait for their passports (collected before the seizure of the “obligations”) to be returned to them, and they could continue their journey. At approximately 12:30 on December 7, all passengers were again forced to get off the bus along with their belongings.

According to Maksym Vinyarsky, two customs officers entered the bus, they walked around the entire bus together with the driver. A few minutes later, border guards with a service dog arrived. The dog was let into the cabin through the middle door (without checking the front of the cabin), but the dog did not go into the cabin, but jumped out of the bus. After the dog was let into the cabin again, the door was closed and after a while the border guards turned to the bus passengers with the question “who was sitting in seat No. 41”. It turned out to be a young Belarusian activist Dmitry Silchenko. He was asked to go into the cabin of the bus and told that there was a package (a paper roll) behind seat No. 41, they asked if it belonged to him. After a negative answer, other Belarusians were asked to go into the cabin. After that, everyone went to the end of the cabin and a roll was pulled out through the seat, when it was unwrapped, some kind of green substance was found there. According to the officers, they had an assumption that this substance could be of narcotic origin. A protocol for the seizure of the substance was not drawn up. After that, all passengers (except Dmitry Silchenko) were taken to the customs control room.

According to public activists, this room (about 25 sq.m.) was completely unsuitable for holding people and there were not even chairs. After about 3 hours, three chairs were brought, although 45 people were being held in the room at the same time (!). The building was cold and the toilet was not working, as a result of which people could not relieve themselves. There was no water for several hours, later it was brought in a plastic container. There was no hot food until 10 am on December 8. At the same time, none of the employees could clearly explain for what period, for what reason people were detained, as well as what procedural status they were in. Periodically, the deputy head of the border checkpoint would say that people were being detained, but then he would correct himself and say that all those who were here were invited to conduct investigative actions as witnesses to a crime and were supposedly here “voluntarily” (!). Around 18:00, about 10 SBU officers arrived from Chernihiv, but the first actions involving the detained bus passengers began only around 22:00. Before that, the Border Guard Service and SBU officers interrogated Dmytro Silchenko in the absence of a lawyer. According to the guy, they tried to persuade him to incriminate himself, threatening him with a 10-year prison term. Also, during this time, a procedure for the seizure of the same substance was staged with the participation of other “acquaintances” (!). Late in the evening, all the passengers were transferred back to the bus, where they were held for another half an hour (until 15:00 on December 8).

All this time, the bus was guarded, none of the passengers were allowed to leave without control, even to the toilet or to get water. At the same time, no one could and did not want to explain what exactly was happening and how long it would last.

It should be noted that none of the passengers, including Dmytro Silchenko, were searched, and their personal belongings and hand luggage were not examined, which is very surprising, given that it was allegedly a case of drug smuggling.

Only at 3:30 p.m. on December 8, after the arrival of human rights activists and journalists, persistent calls from employees of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Ombudsman and the Belarusian consul, was the bus with the passengers, including Belarusian activists, released and returned to Gomel. No charges were brought against any of the passengers, including Dmytro Silchenko. The passengers, citizens of Ukraine, were picked up by relatives in cars, and the Belarusian public activists continued their journey to the Kyiv Euromaidan.

In total, the total period of restriction of freedom and detention of passengers of the Gomel-Chernihiv bus was 28 hours.

It remains only to congratulate the Ukrainian and Belarusian law enforcement agencies on the “successful” joint special operation to prevent a small group of Belarusian public activists from participating in the Euromaidan events, as a result of which almost fifty Ukrainian and Belarusian citizens were on the territory of the border checkpoint for more than a day at sub-zero temperatures, without basic living conditions, and without access to legal assistance.

Relevant complaints about unlawful actions of border guards and SBU officers, in particular regarding illegal detention, violation of the right to freedom of movement, possible falsification of evidence (planting drugs), violation of the right to legal protection, detention in inappropriate conditions, which may be regarded as inhuman treatment, have been sent to the Prosecutor General and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

In the photo: Belarusian activists after their release