Interfax: Russian rights activist said denied entry into Ukraine

(Interfax – Moscow, November 5, 2014) Rights activists have said that the Ukrainian authorities have barred activist of the Russian centre Memorial Vitaliy Ponomarev from entering Ukraine.

“They told Vitaliy Ponomarev, a member of the council of the human rights centre Memorial, who arrived in Lviv on 4 November, that he had been barred from entering the country,” Memorial [press service] told Interfax on Wednesday [5 November].

According to Memorial, a Ukrainian border guard officer told Ponomarev about the entry ban.

Ponomarev spent two and a half hours at the airport of Lviv and then was deported to Russia, a statement by the rights centre said.

According to Memorial, Ponomarev arrived in Lviv to take part in a court hearing into a case of two Russian citizens who had asked for asylum in Ukraine. The court hearing in the Lviv District Administrative Court is scheduled for 6 November.

“The entry ban over rights activities contradicts Ukraine’s international commitments. Memorial calls on the Ukrainian authorities to provide exhaustive information about the incident and revise their clearly unlawful decision,” Memorial said.

Earlier, the Ukrainian authorities denied entry to Russian rights activist and member of SPCh [presidential rights council] Andrey Yurov, the ban was later lifted.