Two Ukrainian activists were held up at Swedish border, said Bohdan Hloba of LGBTQ Ukrainians in America who was witness to the incident.
The activists were heading to Malmo to attend Refugees, Borders and Immigration summit on Friday. The even was organized by the World Pride Copenhagen 2021 in partnership with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other organizations.
According to Hloba, Swedish border control officials held up two of the group citing pasport issues.
‘They decided to check our bus, took two people from the group they turned out to have ID cards in place of passports), and deported us back to the gates of Swedish borders. Now think about it: activists going to the forum on immigration and refugees being deported’, Hloba said.
The activist claimed handling of the situation by Swedish border officials was ‘prejudiced’.
Detained activists were mistreated only because they had German, allegedly refugee, ID documents. I do not know what their original citizenship is, Hloba added.
Border check-up delayed the entire group of 16 people, including Hloba.
‘Since we were in the same group, we decided to wait for their release. The situation was resolved after their passports were brought from the hotel. Finally, we did get to the conference, but it was a ‘great’ presentation of the EU border crossing issue ’, the activist summed up.