Border guards: Shibanova was removed from train, left on a taxi

Lilia Shibanova, founder and former executive director of the All-Russia Associaton "Golos" (Vote) NGO that deals with election monitoring, was removed from a train at the Belarusian post at the border with Lithuania late in the evening of May 12.

Shibanova was on a Vilnius-Moscow train when Belarusian border guards at Gudagai border station asked her to leave the compartment for customs checks of her belongings, Russian political analyst Alexander Kynev wrote on his Facebook account.“She was unable to finish her phone call - it either went dead or was disconnected. Currently, it is unavailable," Kynev wrote.

He also noted that at 2250 Shibanova sent the following SMS to him: “They took me from the train. Spread the word.”

Belarusian Border Control Committee's spokesman Aliaksandr Tsishchanka told Eurorado that Shibanova indeed crossed the border and that she was removed from the train for customs checks. The checks lasted for one hour. Afterwards, at 2330 Shibanova left on a taxi.

However, Golos co-chair Grigory Melkanyants said he had not been in contact with Shibanova yet to confirm the statement of the border guards, reports Meduza quoting him as saying.

In Russia, Lilia Shibanova was scheduled to take part in the meeting of the President's Council on Human Rights. The organization said on its website that it was to address President Putin in connection with gross violation of Shibanova's rights and "unexplainabled actions of Belarusian authorities."