Detention attempt failed!
Today, Belarusian border guards tried to detain an activist of the civil campaign "European Belarus", Aleksandr Lukin, while crossing the Polish-Belarusian border crossing called «Slawatycze».
Fortunately, Aleksandr managed to escape and return to Polish territory and surrender to the Polish authorities.
Aleksandr was returning with his wife and children from holiday in his native Kobrin.
On the Belarusian side of the border crossing, guards were checking the documents for a very long time, and were continuously talking on the phone with somebody, after which they suggested to Aleksandr to go with them. When Aleksandr refused, this was followed by threats of force.
After that, Aleksandr did not wait for the threats to be carried out and he escaped onto Polish territory.
Aleksandr Lukin, a businessman from Kobrin, actively participated in the election campaign of Andrei Sannikov. On 19 December, 2010, he was detained along with Natalya Radina and other journalists at the office of “Charter 97”.
After serving 10 days in jail, Aleksandr left the Republic of Belarus. Several searches were carried out in his house in Kobrin.
At the current time, Polish border guards are deciding the question of whether to give up Aleksandr to the Belarusian authorities or not.