13 July 2023, 22:38
Activist from Nalchik complains about forced fingerprinting at airport
Border guards at the Minvody Airport have forced Olga Begretova, a human rights defender, to give her fingerprints and biological material, although these procedures are not provided for by the law. However, investigators found no violations in border guards' actions.
Olga Begretova (Efendieva), a former employee of the liquidated Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Nalchik, was subjected to illegal procedures at the airport in November 2022. when she was about to fly to Istanbul.
Border control officers took her passport away from her under the pretext of "clarifying some circumstances," and then seized her phone, forced her to give fingerprints and biomaterial from the oral cavity, and photographed her in front and in profile, the "Memorial" Centre for Defence of Human Rights has reported.
The border guards, who detained Begretova, asked her questions about her work and family members; and a man in civilian clothes, who refused to introduce himself, offered her to "talk on abstract topics," in particular, about the attitude towards some Russian cultural figures. They justified the requirement to undergo fingerprinting and other procedures with reference to the law on the FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) and a government resolution.
In December 2022, Begretova turned to the military investigation department of the ICRF (Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation) and asked to check the actions of the border guards for abuse of power. She pointed out that the border control assumes no fingerprinting and the collection of biomaterials, and that the employees of the service had no other legal grounds to carry out these procedures.
*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 13, 2023 at 05:52 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
