NTV cameraman: We were taken to a forest; our sim-cards and tapes were impounded
Yury Babenko, a cameraman with the Russian television channel NTV, reveales details of his and NTV correspondent Aleksei Malkov's deportation from Belarus. —How did the events develop?
— Everything what I have read on the Internet is amost 100 percent true. But not all.
— Waht is not true or incorrect information?
— What untrue is that were taken to the airport. In fact, we were taken to the Belarus-Russia border in the city of Orsha. We were fetched to a train and handed over. Our sim cards from the mobile phones were seized. We had no communication until we reached Moscow.
— How was your encounter with Belarus secret services? Whas is unexpected?
— We spotted them early in the morning. We returned back to our hotel at 3 p.m., had lunch and came outside for a smoke at 6 p.m. because it was not allowed to smoke inside. We figured the situation was getting complicated as we saw several police vans. We were staying on the third floor and could, and since there was a glass wall, we could see 8 uniformed police officers and 10 in civilian clothes moving towards us. So it was not very unexpected. We were taken to a van and fetched outside the city and interrofated. Afterwards, they took us to Orsha and put us on a train to Moscow.
— Did you fear when you saw that you were being taken to a forest not to KGB offices, given that you were making a story about the disappeared people in Belarus?
— What do you think?! We we told that they were taking us to a cosy place for a talk.
— What did they say?
— The official version is that we were on the territory of Belarus without accreditation. They also were interested in what we filmed, whom we talked to and about what. I said that I heard anything and knew nothing. Our equipment was returned apart from tapes and sim cards.
— Why did you decide to work without accreditation with the foreign ministry?
— I am not in position to answer this question.
— Everything what I have read on the Internet is amost 100 percent true. But not all.
— Waht is not true or incorrect information?
— What untrue is that were taken to the airport. In fact, we were taken to the Belarus-Russia border in the city of Orsha. We were fetched to a train and handed over. Our sim cards from the mobile phones were seized. We had no communication until we reached Moscow.
— How was your encounter with Belarus secret services? Whas is unexpected?
— We spotted them early in the morning. We returned back to our hotel at 3 p.m., had lunch and came outside for a smoke at 6 p.m. because it was not allowed to smoke inside. We figured the situation was getting complicated as we saw several police vans. We were staying on the third floor and could, and since there was a glass wall, we could see 8 uniformed police officers and 10 in civilian clothes moving towards us. So it was not very unexpected. We were taken to a van and fetched outside the city and interrofated. Afterwards, they took us to Orsha and put us on a train to Moscow.
— Did you fear when you saw that you were being taken to a forest not to KGB offices, given that you were making a story about the disappeared people in Belarus?
— What do you think?! We we told that they were taking us to a cosy place for a talk.
— What did they say?
— The official version is that we were on the territory of Belarus without accreditation. They also were interested in what we filmed, whom we talked to and about what. I said that I heard anything and knew nothing. Our equipment was returned apart from tapes and sim cards.
— Why did you decide to work without accreditation with the foreign ministry?
— I am not in position to answer this question.
