Elena Tonkacheva: I must leave Belarus by February 21 (video)
The Belarusian human rights activists have exhausted all national remedies trying to cancel the court's ruling to deport Tonkacheva to Russia.
Human rights defender Alena Tankachova must leave Belarus by February 21 and will not be able to come back for three years. She has applied to all the instances trying to cancel the court’s decision to deport her. However, Minsk City Court rejected her appeal yesterday.
It was the last appeal that could help Tankachova stay in Belarus. Alena Tankachova is going to obey the court’s decision and leave the country now.
Alena Tankachova is a Russian citizen who has lived in Belarus for 30 years. She has a job and her own accommodation here. She is the chairperson of the Legal Transformation Centre Lawtrend. The police ordered Tankachova to leave Belarus for three years due to a minor speed limit violation in November 2014. Minsk City Executive Committee Department of the interior and Minsk Pershamaiski District Court rejected her appeals in December 2014.
Tankachova must leave for Russia but she is not going to lie there. She will make a Russian passport (she does not have one at the moment) and will probably settle in Vilnius and continue her human rights activities there.
Photo: dw.de
