Two Russians Sent to Pretrial Detention in Sri Lanka for Catching Lizards
Two young Russians have been arrested in a country popular with tourists.
This was reported by the vice-president of the Unified Coordination Center for Support of Compatriots Abroad (UCCSA) Ivan Melnikov.
Relatives of Russian citizens contacted him, TASS writes. We are talking about Russians born in 2003 and 2007.
On August 29, they were detained in Sri Lanka. This happened in the province of Surikanda. The reason was the suspicion that the young people were engaged in illegal catching of lizards.
Melnikov said that during the arrest, local law enforcement officers violated a number of regulations.
The minor was interrogated without the presence of a legal representative, the Russians were not provided with an interpreter, they were placed in a pre-trial detention facility before the court decision and have been held there for 5 days already.
At the same time, the minor citizen of the Russian Federation was initially placed in a detention facility for adults.
Catching lizards in Sri Lanka is considered a serious crime. Real prison terms of up to 20 years are given for this.
Local legislation strictly punishes those who encroach on fauna or flora.
The embassy and human rights activists are looking into the situation with the Russians.
