You're reading: Spanish documentary film makers who shot film about gays fined for migration violations in Nizhny Novgorod

NIZHNY NOVGOROD – Administrative reports have been filed concerning members of a group of documentarians from Spain who violated the migration legislation.

Lawyer Alexei Vetoshkin told Interfax on Thursday that four citizens of Spain, including filmmaker Fernando Gonsalez Molina, had come to Russia to shoot a documentary film.

“The cameramen who were filming material were detained at the Chkalov Staircase in Nizhny Novgorod around 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. They were taken to the Federal Migration Service’s department for the Nizhny Novgorod region,” the source said.

The police checked the foreigner’s documents.

As a result, administrative reports were filed about the four foreigners on the basis of an article dealing with violations by foreign citizens or stateless persons of the regulations governing entry of the Russian Federation or the regulations governing stay in the Russian Federation manifested in the difference between the stated purpose of the visit from the actual purpose.

“Each person was given a fine in an amount of 2,000 rubles. Without administrative expulsion (from Russia),” Vetoshkin said.

He could not say whether the foreigners will continue shooting in Russia and when they will leave Russia.

In the meantime, some media have reported that the purpose of the group’s visit is to film a documentary about gays who live in the Sarov secure administrative-territorial entity in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

The press service for the Interior Ministry’s Main Department for the Nizhny Novgorod region has confirmed to Interfax that four foreign citizens have violated the regulations governing presence in Russia, which was manifested in the difference between the stated purpose of the visit from the actual purpose in the period of their stay in Russia.

In the meantime, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Interfax that “in accordance with the rules governing accreditation and stay of correspondents of foreign media organizations on the territory of Russia approved by the Russian governments Decree N1055 of September 13, 1994, foreign correspondents have a right to engage in journalistic activities on the territory of Russia only if they have a visa of a relevant category and journalistic accreditation issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry.”