Sister Seeking Visa to Aid Dying Kin Seized in Moscow
A woman trying to emigrate to Israel so she can provide bone marrow to her dying brother was seized with her husband by police today when the couple tried to stage a protest in central Moscow.
Viktor and Inessa Fleurov tried to unveil a banner at about 2 p.m. near the Communist Party Central Committee headquarters and police hustled them into a van and drove them away.
Western reporters at the scene said the arrest took place so quickly that they couldn’t read what the banner said.
The couple was released after two hours. Viktor Fleurov said that authorities gave no reason for holding them, and that the banner read: “Don’t Separate Our Family.”
Mikhail Shirman, Inessa Fleurov’s brother who emigrated to Israel, suffers from leukemia. Inessa Fleurov and the couple’s two daughters have permission to leave, but Viktor is barred because his 75-year-old father refuses to sign a document of approval.
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